PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Federal prosecutors in Rhode Island say seven Providence residents have been indicted for their alleged participation in a scheme intended to defraud banks of approximately $1 million.
Authorities described it as a “card cracking” scheme, in which people create counterfeit checks and recruit complicit bank account holders who allow use of their bank accounts to deposit the bogus checks, then use of their ATM cards to withdraw funds before the bank can figure out the checks are fraudulent.
It’s alleged that members of the conspiracy recruited others via social media, often college students, to allow the bogus checks be deposited into their bank accounts.
Authorities say over the past six years, members of the conspiracy created and deposited in banks in Rhode Island and Massachusetts approximately $1 million in checks.
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