Muhammad Al-Hassani Okaz I recently read a report in a local paper on a professional thief who followed an expatriate who was cashing a check for SR100,000 on behalf of the private establishment he worked for. Waiting for the right time, the thief surprised the expatriate and stole the large amount of money he was carrying. The news report described that thief as a robber who waited for customers to exit the bank with a large amount of cash. The thief would then attack them, steal the money and flee the scene. Such crimes were popular in the past two decades. Newspapers constantly reported on crimes committed against bank customers. I remember a time when police set up an elaborate trap for such thieves by having undercover police officers pose as company employees with bags full of fake cash. When a thief would fall into the trap and attack the undercover officer, other officers in the sting operation would immediately move in and arrest the criminal. In the immediate aftermath of the sting operations, bank customers began to be targeted less and less, a trend that seems to have reversed. I remember a funny story involving the contractor who was building my house. He demanded SR50,000 as payment for construction. I wrote a check and gave it to him. When he went to the bank to cash the check, he witnessed an old man exiting the bank with a bag full of money. The man was ambushed and thieves stole his money and ran away. The contractor put the check back in his own pocket and left. He came back to me asking for payment in cash. I asked him if he wanted me to be the next victim. I am very cautious every time I go to the bank to cash a check, regardless of the amount. I am on full alert and watch the people around me until I get back to my car. So far, nothing has happened but is this type of fear the new norm?
