A woman, who found herself up to her neck in trouble because of a fraudulent scheme devised by her husband behind her back, was cleared of fraud and money laundering.

Jemelyn Aliga Silos, a 41-year old mother from the Philippines, was working and leading a normal life in Malta when she found herself under arrest, facing interrogation at the police depot without quite understanding what it was all about.

It all began to dawn on her when her lawyer explained why the police had arrested her and her husband who appeared to be the source of all the trouble.

The man, Arvin Guerrero Silos, had devised a scam by setting up a Facebook page imitating and purporting to be the official Bank of Valletta page, complete with corporate logo and all.

He then lured unsuspecting customers into contacting the page making inquiries about some difficulty they encountered when attempting a banking transaction.

The duped customers, believing that it was authentic and that they were communicating with bank personnel, would supply bank card details.

Those details were then used for online purchases and transfer of funds from the victims’ accounts to third party accounts, both locally and abroad.

Customers with a two-factor authentication set up were sent a code to effect a “test purchase.” Funds were siphoned away as soon as the transaction was completed.

Almost €10,000 were swindled through the scam.

All throughout the man used his wife’s email account, also setting up an Azimo account in her name to effect the fraudulent transactions.

But it was all done behind her back.

The couple was prosecuted and the husband was sentenced after admitting to making money through false pretences, fraud, identity card fraud and money laundering.

He insisted from the very start that his wife was innocent.

When testifying in her case he confirmed that “he alone was responsible for the scam,” giving details of how he managed to trick his victims.

He had even sent money to his wife’s cousin in the Philippines, telling her that those were earned through crypto transactions.

He paid her a €100 commission for transferring the funds to his own bank account in his homeland, telling the cousin not to tell his wife.

All along, his wife was “clueless” about the fraudulent transactions taking place since her husband made sure to delete all emails and notifications on her phone, emptying the trash bin too.

The man explained that he had access to his wife’s accounts for the past ten years because “she was not knowledgeable about these matters” and needed help to operate such technology.

The woman admitted that she only used WhatsApp and Facebook to communicate with her family back home.

It was her husband who used her debit card to top up her tal-Linja card, helping himself to a double top-up.

When his wife asked about the double notification to her phone, he lied to her, saying that there was some technical glitch in Transport Malta’s system.

The husband later “regretted his actions,” apologized to the victims and said that he was “blinded by the easy money.”

He insisted that his wife was innocent.

When delivering judgment against the woman, Magistrate Rachel Montebello, observed that the man’s testimony alone was not sufficient to clear his wife.

However after analyzing all evidence, documents and testimonies the court concluded that there was nothing linking the accused to the victims other than the fact that her name and email were used to open the Azimo account and that the monies were deposited in her account.

The prosecution failed to prove that she had designed the fake Facebook profile or operated the scam. Nor did she chat with the unsuspecting customers.

In fact, her husband’s mobile number was the one provided to the victims for verification purposes.

All evidence pointed to her husband as the author and administrator of the scam.

The prosecution did not prove that the wife had the necessary IT skills and the court was convinced that she did not know nor even suspect that the funds were derived through her husband’s criminal activity.

“I was so clueless what he was doing,” the woman testified, and her “genuine” explanation did not go unnoticed by the court.

The woman showed “marked disappointment” when recalling her discovery of her husband’s criminal wrongdoing.

Not only did he defraud others but had used her personal details and accounts to do so, rued the woman, admitting that she was “thinking of leaving him.”

When all was considered the court cleared the woman of all criminal liability.

Lawyers Joe Giglio and Michaela Giglio were defence counsel.