Police investigate fraud at two banks after $88K taken out in credit on Boulder account
Security video of a woman police are investigating in connection with a fake ID and theft investigation.
By Sarah Horbacewicz
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DENVER, Colorado (KCNC) — How does someone walk into a bank and take out money under someone else’s name? That’s the question Denver and Longmont police are asking as victims in two Denver metro area bank branches report someone using a fake identity to take out credit in their name.
As police investigate, victims are sharing their stories, hoping to spread awareness and protect others.
On July 1, Siân Murphy decided to clean out her inbox and found a survey from her bank, UMB, asking about her experience the day before.
“This was, like my junk email,” Murphy said, “Please take a survey. I don’t know what to say.”
Murphy said she had nothing to say because she didn’t go to a bank on June 30, and she hadn’t been to that Denver branch ever. But now she was in $88,000 of debt.
“We called [the bank] immediately, as soon as I saw it,” Murphy said, “It felt really invasive. Here’s someone with an ID with my information going around doing illegal things, and anybody that knows me, I’m a rule follower, so it just made my heart completely sink.”
Murphy says she never lost her ID or credit cards and still doesn’t know how a signature matched. But she says someone was able to use her identity to take out checks on her line of credit.
“They’ve gone to the next level. It’s not just wire fraud. It’s going into the bank face to face and having these interactions with people,” Murphy said.
And after posting on social media, Murphy found out she may not have been the only victim.
“We pieced it together, and there are pictures of her in the exact same outfit from when she did it to another victim,” Murphy said.
This is the photo Murphy says she got from UMB Bank in Denver after she says someone took out money using a fake ID.
The next day, a photo was taken at Adams Bank and Trust in Longmont. Another victim said the same scam almost happened to her, but bank staff recognized the fake ID and turned her away.
In a statement to CBS Colorado, UMB President of Consumer Banking and Chief Marketing Officer Liz Lewis said, “We take our customers’ financial privacy and security extremely seriously and have rigorous standards in place. While we do not comment on specific customer activities, we are committed to caring for and protecting all our customers’ financial well-being.”
CBS Colorado reporter Sarah Horbacewicz asked, “Are you on the hook for that money?”
Murphy said, “No, no, luckily, the bank has acknowledged what is going on and what has happened.”
Now, as the bank moves money to the right places, police continue to investigate these reports in both Denver and Longmont. No arrest has been made in either case.
“I want to get the story out there so that we can do some good with it and turn a bad situation into something good that might help and someone else down the road,” Murphy said, “For me, it was, this will never happen to me, quickly turned into a reality.”
As Murphy says, she was told by DPD possible restricted use of facial recognition could slow her case. CBS Colorado has asked both police departments about facial recognition technology and if or how its use could impact this investigation.
No official suspect has been named, but both DPD and LPD say they’re investigating cases of fraud at these banks. Murphy said she’s hoping someone recognizes the person in the photos and that someone is arrested before any more attempts are made.
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