VietNamNet Bridge – The HCM City People's Court yesterday, Sep 25, sentenced a former IT expert at a bank to seven years in jail for stealing money by hacking into his bank's computers.

Lam Nguyen Minh Tam, 28, of Long An Province, worked for the Mekong Housing Bank in HCM City for three years from 2007 before being dismissed for hacking into the bank's server.

When he was fired last November he retained ATM cards belonging to five customers. He again hacked into the bank's system, stole the passwords of an accountant and an officer, and authorised the transfer of VND5 billion (US$238,000) to one of the ATM cards.

Last January he used the card to withdraw VND505 million (US$24,000) from MHB, Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam, and Viet Nam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, and bought some gold and spent the rest.

He also transferred some money between the cards and that caused his downfall.

Staff at the branch discovered the unusual transactions and reported to their head office and the police.

Tam was arrested on January 14.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News