4 indicted in bank fraud scheme that stole nearly $500,000 from SECU
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- Federal grand jury indicted four men for defrauding SECU of nearly $500,000.
- Scheme exploited SECU auto-reconciliation window to falsify account balances.
- Defendants recruited SECU members by offering shares of fraudulent withdrawals.
Four men were indicted in Raleigh for a scheme that exploited a security weakness and took nearly $500,000 from the State Employees Credit Union, the U.S. attorney’s office said Thursday.
In late August, a federal grand jury indicted Calvin Daminice Stewart, Quavedrian Da’mon Gibson, Keyondrea Deionta Purvis and Michael Raekwon Ryner on charges of bank fraud and conspiracy.
Between April and September of 2022, the four recruited friends, family and acquaintances who gave them access to their SECU cards and PIN numbers, the indictment said.
The men would then make numerous deposits and withdrawals in the account knowing that SECU had an overnight “reconciliation” period during which all the day’s transactions were tallied.
During this downtime, SECU’s computer systems would not know the true value in the accounts, the indictment said, letting the defendants make sham transactions and inflate the amount of money available for withdrawal.
In return, the indictment said, the defendants promised the SECU members a share of the large withdrawals they made. In all, the proceeds totaled $473,849.95.
“Protecting the integrity of banks and credit unions that serve North Carolina’s public is a top priority,” U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle said in a news release Thursday. “We will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to investigate allegations of fraud and safeguard the trust and money placed in these institutions.”