Kazakhstan Bank Employees Linked to Kidnappings and Loan Scam

Employees of Kaspi, Forte, Eurasian, and Jusan banks were involved in the scheme, Orda.kz reports.

For more than five years, an organized crime group had been kidnapping socially vulnerable people and taking out multimillion-tenge loans in their names. According to the Aqmola Region Prosecutor’s Office, the group consisted of 25 people from different regions of Kazakhstan.

Among them were employees of several large banks: Kaspi Bank, ForteBank, Eurasian Bank, and Jusan Bank. With their participation, the criminals received loans in the names of fictitious borrowers, the supervisory authority reported.

All participants in the scheme will soon face trial.

Interestingly, the prosecutor’s office initially stated that an employee of the central office of the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market was also part of the organized crime group. However, the agency later stated this claim as “incorrect.”

Today, incorrect information regarding the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market was published on the website of the Aqmola Region Prosecutor’s Office. The publication has now been corrected, the regulator said in a statement.

It was previously reported that a large-scale investigation began after residents of Zerenda District complained that loans had been taken out in their names without their knowledge. The district prosecutor initiated an investigation, and in November 2024, a criminal case was opened.

It was then revealed that the group had acted according to a clear scheme: some members collected personal data, others forged documents, and bank employees processed the loans. Fictitious loans were issued to more than 450 people, with damages reaching five billion tenge.

In a separate case, another criminal group issued car loans in the names of unemployed individuals and people with disabilities. The fraudsters pocketed the money, while the victims were left with the debts. In total, 65 people were affected, and the damages exceeded 250 million tenge. 

The defendants were charged with fraud and creating an organized crime group, and the case has been sent to court.

Original Author: Ruslan Loginov