Links in “Financial Crime”

The chief operating officer of the Federal Housing Finance Agency reportedly threatened to kill (by way of shooting) both former director Edward J. DeMarco and himself. Investigation has not revealed any possible motives. [5/7]

Scammers posing as investigators with the Texas Attorney General's office are accessing applicant info from borrowers and threatening to issue an arrest warrant if they don't load a prepaid debit card and send it off. [5/7]

Numerica Credit Union recently became the first CU in Washington state to accept membership from pot processors and producers. Recreational marijuana is legal in Washington, but many other CUs are still hesitant to offer accounts to these types of businesses. Numerica CU hopes that offering accounts to legitimate businesses will lower the crime involved with a typically cash-only market. [5/6]

Okay, okay, so your credit union is probably not suffering from a 75% employee embezzlement rate. However, the statistic is true for an Oahu-based credit union; three of only four employees were simultaneously, but separately, embezzling a total of $500,000 over the course of the years. [5/6]

Mining Bitcoins is becoming less lucrative, so attacking user's wallets has become the preferred approach of thieves. Experts advise transferring Bitcoins to a "cold wallet," a storage device that is completely offline. [5/5]

NCUA has received approval to intervene in a lawsuit against three former employees of the now-liquidated Lynrocten Federal Credit Union. The $1.6 million dollar suit filed by Northern Piedmont Federal Credit Union alleges the three employees engaged in a loan participation fraud scheme. [5/2]

CEO Gail Cook of Widget Financial FCU in Erie, PA, and two of her employees are being credited with uncovering a massive, nationwide fraud ring.  According to federal prosecutors, the 5-person ring had opened fraudulent accounts across the country and stolen more than $10 million dollars over a 9-year timeframe until the credit union staff discovered they had opened multiple accounts with similar personal information, but different names. [4/25]

As fast as IT departments are working on protecting their computers from Heartbleed, criminals are racing to exploit it. Experts also warn of "phishing" attacks, in which criminals send millions of emails offering to protect recipients from Heartbleed by clicking a link or opening an email that will infect recipients' computers with malware. [4/21]

Debra Kinney, former CEO of Border Lodge Credit Union in Derby, Vermont, has been sentenced to three years in prison for embezzling $630,000 from 33 members. Kinney admitted writing checks against members accounts to herself and family members. [4/17]

Real world examples of identity theft can prove helpful in training front line staff. [4/16]