Theft Protection

Six people in California have been charged with defrauding banks out of more than $3 million dollars.

An indictment handed down by a federal grand jury charges the six individuals with 29 felony counts of bank fraud.

The suspects stole the identities of people with good credit scores to establish lines of credit and used the money for personal expenses.

According to the FBI, the group obtained personal information including dates of birth, Social Security numbers, credit profiles, FICO scores and driver’s license numbers.  They then used this information to complete fraudulent applications for business lines of credit at Bank of America and Wells Fargo Bank branches.

The stolen identities also were used to create phony corporate officers of shell corporations that did not exist, the FBI said.

To fool bank employees who made on-site inspections, the defendants created fake offices where they posed as employees to make it look like the corporations were legitimate.

Once the applications were approved, banks deposited money into the accounts, usually in amounts of $100,000.

The defendants liquidated accounts in a few days, making checks payable to themselves. The ring leader received 10 to 15 percent of the credit line and the remainder was shared among the rest.

If convicted of all counts, the defendants face maximum sentences ranging from 750 to 870 years in prison.

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