Scammers fleece nearly $50 million from bank

Investigators are seeking to bring 31 persons before the courts for their participation in a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme that fleeced a local bank of almost $50 million.

This was revealed by prosecutors in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court last Thursday after three of the accused made their first appearance in court. Stashanie Smellie, 35, Kehoe Hibbert, 43, and Timera Whyte, 25, are charged on a 20-count indictment for conspiracy to defraud, engaging in a transaction involving criminal property, facilitating a transaction involving criminal property, simple larceny and unauthorised access to computer data. They have not yet entered a plea.

It is alleged that on March 14, the bank made a report to the police in relation to fraudulent transfers being made from a customer's account to accounts at other financial institutions. The affected customer went to the offices of the Constabulary Financial Unit with bank statements. However, someone with the customer's banking informational called the bank's customer service unit, pretending to be the customer, and requested that certain credentials linked to the account be changed. Online banking access was created and the affected customer's daily online transaction limit was increased to $8 million.

It was further alleged that between February 15 and 22, some 49 transfers were made via the online banking platform totalling $46,247,000. The funds were allegedly fraudulently transferred to 34 different accounts held at three other financial institutions. It is alleged that Smellie received $800,000, Hibbert received $900,000 and $950,000 on separate occasions, while Whyte received $900,000.

Senior Parish Judge Lori-Anne Cole-Montaque imposed bail conditions on the accused, ordering that they surrender their travel documents and report to the police twice weekly. A stop order was imposed and they were made subjects of fingerprint order. They are to return to court on July 25.