On February 1st, 2023, officers were called when a woman tried to make a large withdrawal from a bank, which was kind of suspicious to the bank teller and the police officer who worked at the bank. Then this happened. [Music] Uh oh, she already I'm pretty sure she No, I I already explained to her so she can leave. Huh? So, the female lobby, the one that's got two bra shot, she got this check for just under $40,000. She deposited it via phone. Hey, good morning 73. This morning, mind you, this was done on the 30th, right? The 30th or the 31st? 30th. Okay, so like two days ago. Monday, which means a check probably is not going to clear in two days, right? So, she goes to two ATMs, deposits or withdraws $1,000 each. She then goes to CMI branch and withdraws $20,000. She then comes here and is wanting to clear out the rest of the account which is equivalent to what? 17,000 17,000 and some probably some change. Um, they called the bank obviously because of a large amount of money to verify whether or not this check is legit. They said no, it's a fraudulent check. They don't have a she is not their client. Um they said they had a a fraud um from their business where a whole bunch of checks were stolen or information. They don't have a check that starts in that account number. So they took the information from it looks like they Yeah. So she it was good timing because as you guys were coming in she was trying to leave. So I kind of explained to her like you know hey don't leave just yet like She said, "Well, I've been here a hot minute." I understand that, but just understand that you're trying to withdraw money. And usually people call ahead of time, so they're trying to gather whatever they need. Kind of bought us some time. Um, and like, hey, just hang out for a few more minutes while we try to figure it out. And I was like, I'm here because one, I'm working for the bank, but two, it's a large amount of money, so we just want to ensure that obviously nothing happens. So, but yeah, they called, but as you can see, the memo says settlement proceeds, but the top says payroll checking. So, that's kind of what drew their attention like, is this payroll or is this a settlement check? But when they called and verified, they're like, "Please, please, please, this is a fraudulent check. We don't have a check that starts in this in this check sequence." Um, that's the business that said that or the bank. So, they called they called the business business and they talked to somebody and that's how they found out like, "Hey, this check doesn't exist. Um, it's it's a fraud." So, she's she seems pretty calm, but I think she's starting to get a little nervous. Okay. Um, she was trying to leave. The pime the primary will be here in a minute, so we'll just make sure she doesn't go. Yeah, I was literally just typing reports. Yeah. Yeah. I was actually going to be Yeah, that's my job. That's $13,000. I'm not losing my job. I'm sorry. Um, have we contacted the owner of the check and see if they want Yeah, that's who they want to prosecute and prosecute. She said that if we do, we can She gave me her email. She's the manager of the law firm. Um, and she said, "We get a report and everything. We can also forward it to them so they can Right." But do they do they want to prosecute? Yes. I asked her. Yeah. So, as long as we have contact Yeah, I got you and I can call her again and get everything from her. Um, we'll get you started on the statement in the meantime just to kind of have you told us that we can get that with her until she surprised that she's still there with the amount of That's her right there, right? Yeah. leave. So I was like I was like, "Excuse me, miss." Oh god, there's a whole bunch of you guys. I have another officer in the back waiting for y'all too. Oh yeah, female. You want great? Do we know who she is? Yes, ma'am. So now the question is whether or not 20 grand that she deposit or withdrew from me. When did she withdraw it? This morning. This morning. This morning. She here after that. And that was another question. Like I said, what if she needed money? She told me she went shopping. You don't go shopping with $40,000 in cash. I mean, I don't I don't even do cash. I don't do cash, but some people do cash. Yeah. So, yeah. $17.91 budget today for me. more than I have. Yeah. But 50 is what I So I know you just you just went through it as if you went through I'll tell you. Are you are you Yes. Okay. So you know who she is? We'll find her. [Music] Yeah. Pink pants. [Music] Amen. We're just detaining you right now. You know, under us, just detaining you until we have more information. Okay. This is all your stuff here. Yeah, I'll bring it with you. Are you done with that? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, awesome. Thank you. [Music] She's on the way. So, you're not going to be waiting on so she's on the way now. Like I said, I'll tell you where. I'll loosen it up. I'll loosen it up. my stuff out of here. Out of here? No, not right now. I'm praying. I got to go to my appointment. That's the only reason we had to leave. Yeah, there's no I can't give you anything out of here right now because there's kind of an investigation going. They said wait for the detective. Arrest 10 minutes, a few minutes. They're already on the way. So, it's not going to take long. They just want to call too said I have not. If they want to get involved, I'll either you want me to close so you can put the I'll put the AC and everything. You can't sit right here. And so, because I'm not It's It's hot. It's hot. So if when the doors closed, the air conditioner will keep it cool. It's hot. We can't if you leave the door open, it's just all heat. Yeah, it's all going to come off. Let me put this first. They're just doing doing some checking on some stuff. Are you in another car? Are you in another car? Yeah, but I got to be Okay. What does she have of yours that you need for an appointment? My paper? Yeah. I can take a purse or No, you can't. You can't take anything right now. Cuz all she needed was her her car and her phone, right? This is her purse. We can't let anything go out of that right now. No, it's not hers. That's my purse. That's your purse? Yeah, that's her ID and her. Why is she carrying your purse? Cuz I was supposed to go in there to open up, but I was waiting to get You got to wait about 10 15 minutes for the detective. about 10 15 minutes. Could be a little bit less. They were on their way and they're just down the street. So, [Applause] Yeah, at least we'll be in 8 seconds. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Just as good. No, we're just going to use the room to talk real quick. [Applause] whenever she's done with their interview, just so you know. So she may have given her information to somebody cuz they're trying to do transfers right now for their account. Who may have given her information? The other girl. Oh, so somebody else has her account. They were just getting information. I mean there's like transfer trying to right now they're trying. So it's just they just froze the account. Good. Okay. Okay. So just so you know Yeah. [Applause] Do you hear me? I'm Detective Jackson. I work with the Financial Crime Unit. Okay. Um before I speak to you today, I'm just going to read you um because you're detained and by law, we have to read you your constitutional rights. Okay. All right. You have the right to I'm sorry. Uh sure. Give me a minute. Okay. So when I bank, there was an active transfer that's trying to go through to see. So there was a transfer for $5 for zel to see if it was going through. Um and then another transfer was coming from so I don't know if somebody else access All right. Um, okay. I'm going to read you your your rights. You have the right to remain silent. Do you understand? Okay. I need a verbal yes or no. Okay. Awesome. Anything you say may be used against you in court. Do you understand? Yes. Okay. Have you you have the right to talk to a lawyer before and during questioning. Do you understand? Yes. Do if you cannot afford a lawyer and want one, will one will be provided for you before questioning without charge. Do you understand? Yes. Has anyone threatened you or promised you anything to get you to talk to me? No. Okay. Um, I understand your name is Aisha. Okay. And can you say your date of birth for me, please? All right. So, Miss Obviously, we're here at Navy Federal Credit Union. Um, tell me how did you get involved into this whole scheme? I was in a wreck. someone walked up to me, they seen what happened. They're like, "Oh, we seen what happened. I'm a lawyer and I can help you get um you know, right conversation because if you try to go through the provider, it's going to you're not going to get that much." So, I was like, "Okay, I trust you." Um talked about it, went to the the office, I think it was Lipton, and um that was it. He didn't seem like anything. in handcuffs now. So, I'm a little worried. How long ago was this? Um, about December. Um, right before Christmas. Okay. Took a little trip. So, from my understanding, you got into a car accident. When was this? The car accident was about right before Christmas um in December. I have to look at my calendar. I'll say at least four or five days before Christmas. And he said he saw it. He's the lawyer and he can help me get paid. Did he give you a business card or name? Just his name. What was his name? But not a business card. Okay. You remember the name? It was like a John. John. Okay. And how would you describe Miss? Very sweet. Um, Africanamean. Um, about middleage. Dressed real nice. Okay. Um, where was this crash take place? I don't know the street name. Huh? I don't know the street name cuz I'm not from there. I'm from North Carolina originally. Okay. Do you live here in Florida? Mhm. I've been here about 5 years. What part? Here, Orlando. Right down the street. Okay. So, where did where did your crash occur? Maybe not the road, but what city? It was in I don't know the city. I just know it was Michigan. I just really don't know the city. I was using ways. Okay. Did you have a police report? What about pulled up and was saying that he could get it done? You know that he saw a verbal witness. He's like, "My Lord, I saw." So, what happened at the time with the accident? Mhm. I was going straight. Um, God, I really need the streets if you guys can't believe me. I was going straight. Um, I had the right away. It was a green light. The car turned and hit me. Um, in my Chevy, it's a 2015 Chevy. It hit me from the left side. And I was like, "Oh, my back hurts. My neck hurts." He's like, "That's perfect. That's all we need." And he's going to do all the communication, everything for me. I didn't have to do anything. like he made it seem like I was trusting him to get me, you know, finances for my injury. And you trusted him? I did. Did you give him your information? What information did you provide? I gave him he needed my social, my name, my date of birth, my address, and um he asked me if I had a Navy Federal and for the account number, and I I did provide that to him. Why did he ask you that? I thought him as a lawyer, you just needed it. Okay. How long you been a member with Navy Federal Credit Union? Uh, since 201 19, 19. How many accounts would you say you have? Uh, two debits. And I have a credit, a secured credit card, and I have a savings. Mhm. Okay. What do you do for a living? I work at Progressive. I'm a customer service rep. Progressive insurance. Okay. So, you typically know how accidents work. I don't do claims. You don't get claims. I just um help them get a policy or change coverages and take payments. Okay. Okay. Um about roughly how much you make there? Um, I make $21 an hour about 16 every two weeks. Okay. 16 17 every two weeks. Mhm. How long you been with Progressive? Uh, for a year and some change. Year and a half. Okay. Okay. Um, so tell me what happened today. Like what what have you been doing today? Oh, today I picked up my niece. Um, we were going to get some she had an appointment and she needed to get her We're having a fraternity photo shoot Thursday. So, we're going to get our eyelashes. And is that your outside? Mhm. Okay. Um, she's due soon. She's 3 cm. Um, yeah. So, we we were already up and kissing me. We saw that the amount had cleared and I went ahead and took out 20,000 and then she was like, "Let's do some Tik Tok videos. um let's get the rest of the money out so it won't be flashing. So I came here which is like really 5 minutes from the house um to get the rest out to you know flash on camera and then this happened. That was pretty much my day. So how was this check given to you? It was sent in the mail. It was sent in the mail. Okay. Did you deposit it into your account? Mobile deposit. You did the mobile deposit into your account. Okay. Um, so when you received it, when did you receive the check? The 30th. About two days ago. Okay. About two days ago. Okay. Do you have any settlement paperwork from the accident? Nothing. You just received a check in the mail. Have you been in communication with this guy? Not recently. See, it just was a leap of faith since December. I haven't heard anything. And then here comes a check in the mail. Did you receive any medical treatment for anything from the accident? No. And just you received a check in the mail and you thought that it was legit. He looked Yeah. I didn't think anything were wrong with it. And then it cleared after being on hold, so I thought it was okay. Okay. Well, Miss Adams, I'm going to be completely honest with you, okay? I investigate a lot of these cases, and I know for sure what you're telling me is not the complete truth. And what I'm doing right now is giving you the opportunity to be truthful. Um, because I believe that you're not the only one involved in this situation, okay? Um, I can give you the facts, but I think you know the facts. I see that it looks bad, and I just I've never had this happen. I don't have a record. I don't have anything. Like I honestly just rather give it back and then wait for them to say I can take it out. Like that's really what I want to do. Just give it back and then wait for them to say it's all clear, which is sounding like it's not clear, but if it I just want to give it back and wait for it to be clear. I didn't realize I know I had to call in and get them to clear the the money to come out or anything like that. I just saw the funds and I was like, "Let's get it out." But I didn't know all this was going to happen. So, if I could please just give it all back and then wait for them to say that it's clear, I would I would really do that cuz this is scary if I'm being honest. Well, if I'm being honest with you, um yeah, all of this is scary and it is um quite suspicious. Okay. Um this look familiar to you? What I'm showing you is a copy of the check that you deposited into your account. Does this look familiar? Yeah, my name. Do you still have the copy of this? Yes. You still have the copy? Mhm. I didn't throw it out. Did you look up this law firm? I Googled it and it came back. That's what made me trust him, too. Come back to It just said Lift Law. like it had a website and like in reviews, but he didn't give you a business card. So, how do you know that there could be 20 LIM laws around here? It's 2022. I guess too naive and trusting. I'm not I don't have a business card and I do Tik Tok business pretty well. Well, I'm going to tell you what really doesn't sound truthful. you meeting someone an accident that did not go reported. Okay? You giving your personal information to someone and then they're asking you if you have a Navy Federal account and then all of a sudden a month later you receive a check in the mail. Settlement checks usually don't go that fast. They're not trying to like, you know, hit. And now that I'm in cuffs, I I really feel like, okay, maybe. But at the time, it just it all really seemed like Like I didn't And then once the hole went through, I really didn't think anything of it. Like the hole went through. The bank verified the fund. So I just came in today. Yeah, it it's an account, but it's not an account. You're you're not even We call Lift Law. You're not even a customer or a client of them. They don't even know me. And you have nothing to prove that all my information. And you have nothing to prove that you been in contact with this guy and you didn't verify anything. So it just questions me. Are you being completely honest with me? I swear my mom literally passed away two years ago. I wouldn't I wouldn't dare make her turn around in her grave. Please, if I can just But you work at an insurance company, so you you're familiar with certain things. It just when it happens to person, it just doesn't feel like that could happen to you. It doesn't feel like you would be in that spot for that to happen. Yeah. But you you have no record of a police report. You don't recall where this accident took place. All these things is just looking is leading back to you. I promise to So my question is who gave you the check cuz I can track that it's been sent to you. So my question to you is who gave you the check and if you're willing to be honest with me on that. I can bring the check back. I can give the funds back and all that. What I want you to tell me is who gave you the check. I'm hoping it's Mr. Linton. You didn't receive it in the mail. I have the envelope. You have the envelope. What address was it sent to? It has my information on it, but it doesn't It was like a plain white envelope with the opening with my information on it. But it has no address and it doesn't have where the sender address is. No. Okay. That's not how things work. So again, I'm going to ask you who gave you the check. It came in the mail. I don't know if you really got me. This is bad. Yeah, it looks bad on you. Looks very bad on me. I'm not that type of person. I'm really not. He said he was a warrior. I don't know why I trusted him. like this been all my information sitting up in handcuffs and for the first time ever. I mean, you seem like a very nice young lady who doesn't seem to be getting wrapped up into this. My question is I wouldn't I knew that it was going to Did someone approach you about making money? They did approach me about but they saw what happened. They saw an accident. Yeah, but you didn't report it to the police. Is your car damaged? Did you report those damages? Why not? Cuz you said if you settle, you don't have to do all that. Like that's why you settle. So that person doesn't have to. But you have no evidence. There's no report. Yeah. There's no evidence. There's no report that's generated to prove that you like normal like you can do settlements outside of all that and it's okay. Miss Adams, I'm giving you opportunity to tell me who else is involved in this cuz I don't believe you did this all by yourself. I can get from that person. I mean, you can help yourself in the situation. You can tell me who else is involved cuz I know it's not just you. Like I said, I investigate these cases a lot. I know. So, I look suspect. I'm a black woman. I got locks in my head. Like, it just looks bad. But I swear I did not know that I was going to get I can't say that there because I I look just like you. I don't. I'm telling you from my experience what I have investigated and it's many people from all walks of life and what I'm trying to convey to you is that this is a part of a whole scheme and we get this all the time. So you can be truthful or you're going to take the fall of all the charges that is going to be placed upon you cuz this check is not a legit check. It's a fraudulent check. Did you create the check? Do you know who created the check? I was thinking it was really Lon Law. Linton Law from Missouri. I really thought it was them. Okay. Well, when you went up to the teller, you told him it was for What did you tell him at first that the check was for? This teller? He didn't ask me. He didn't ask you? No. He said they have to check if they have the funds and the manager and went to the back and then they told me to sit down. But you went to CMI. CM. Yeah. And you went there. The 20,000. Okay. What did you tell the CMI teller? Cuz he asked is it from a car selling? I say yes. Okay. Yes. But the check also says payroll. I didn't even look at all that. So, you didn't even look at the check? No. Cuz I'm thinking bad checks are just going to clear. Like, this thing went through. How was I going to think that I'm involved in something bad? Like, it went through. It was on hold. I got an email. It was confirmed instantly. All of that. Does anyone else have access to your account? Yeah, he does. Who is he? The guy. What's his name? The real guy. That's his name. The real guy who has access to your to your stuff. Who put you up to this? Please. It's John Lipton. H. It's John Lipton. The real person who put you up there. So John Lton created your account. That's who met me. And and he has access to your account. How? I gave him the information. What information did you give him? Everything he asked for. But he didn't deposit the check into your account. Why? Why would he? He has access to your account. Why would he mail it if he can just deposit it into your account if he has access? That doesn't make sense, does it? My account was um closed and two more open because someone logged into it. So, I'm guessing that's why he decided to send the check out. Okay, Miss Adams, this not does not look good for you. I'm trying to get you to kind of help yourself in this situation. We have access to a lot of things and what you're telling me just don't match match up. This account that you have, you opened it just a few days ago cuz my other one got closed because of the login. Someone logged into my account from a fraud device. It did record it on the phone and they gave me those two new account. Why was it recorded for fraudulent activity? The device that signed onto my phone was a fraud device. That's what the lady told me on the phone. She said it was a it was blocked as a fraud device. So, they had to close my two accounts down, give me two new account numbers, but it kept the same debit cards. And what do you use this app for? Mostly when I'm doing like promotions, um, stuff like that. What do you promote? Clothes. I do it on Tik Tok. Mhm. When I get paid from that, that goes into that account. That's usually all I use for Do you make pretty good money from that? Was that the accounts you were using at your closed? That money was going into those accounts? Okay. And how long were you doing the promoting for the close? Two years now. Two years. Okay. Is that all you want to say to me today? Um, we'll get with the officer and we'll let you know what goes from here. All right, we're ready. I get to your car. [Applause] Go. She was charged with scheme to defraud, grand theft of $20,000 or more, and fraudulent use of personal identification. She ended up receiving 5 years of probation after she was willing to tell the truth about who she actually did this bank fraud scheme with to receive a lighter sentence. Do you think she feared the consequences she was possibly going to receive if she didn't tell the truth about who deposited that large amount of money in her bank account? Let us know in the comment section below. And don't forget to like and subscribe.