BILLINGS, Mont.–Three former credit union employees have either been sentenced or entered guilty pleas for crimes committed while working at a CU.
In Billings, Mont., Kelly Jo Muzzana, 40, who earlier pleaded guilty to embezzlement by a credit union employee, has been sentenced.
Muzzana formerly served as the operations manager for Altana Federal Credit Union in 2023 was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, and also ordered to immediately pay full restitution of $65,046.37, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said in a statement.
According to prosecutors, Muzzana also managed the fraud reporting system and was entrusted to independently authorize bank cards that were re-issued to members or returned to the bank through the mail.
Duplicate Cards
“While working as the operations manager, Muzzana created duplicate bank cards for customer accounts and took them home with her,” the U.S. Attorney said, adding that Muzzana took numerous bank cards from Altana and used them to make purchases online and in retail stores around Billings.
After using their cards to finance her private spending, Muzzana personally handled many of the subsequent fraud claims to prevent detection by law enforcement, the U.S. attorney added.
Eventually, an Altana FCU member reported one of Muzzana’s fraudulent purchases to law enforcement.
“When a detective called Altana to investigate, Muzzana downloaded a recording of the call and, after learning of the investigation, fled the building and never returned,” according to KTVG.
Guilty Plea in North Carolina
In North Carolina, after pleading guilty to bank fraud and misuse of Social Security numbers, Jillian Scott, 31, faces a maximum penalty of 35 years in prison when she’s sentenced later this year.
According to court documents and other evidence presented in court, Scott was employed as a member call representative for State Employees Credit Union (SECU) and worked from her home on a SECU-issued laptop, WRAL reported.
Scott had access to both the personal identifying information and account information of SECU members, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Calls From More Than 20 Members
The U.S. Attorney said that said between November 2018 and June 2021, Scott used her position to access the accounts of more than 20 members who called the member service line for questions regarding their accounts. The members were unaware that Scott repeatedly accessed their accounts for reasons unrelated to their customer service call, WRAL stated.
Prosecutors said that as part of the scheme, Scott used the personal identifying information from the members’ accounts to create fraudulent PayPal and CashApp accounts in their names.
Scott then used these fraudulent PayPal and CashApp accounts to transfer money from the members’ SECU accounts to bank accounts owned and controlled by her. She also created fraudulent Bill Pay checks, which she used to move money from the SECU customers’ accounts into her own accounts.
In total, prosecutors said Scott made nearly 700 fraudulent CashApp transactions, 120 fraudulent PayPal transactions and 47 fraudulent Bill Pay transactions, for a total loss of nearly $80,000.
Inside Job in Alabama
In Tuscaloosa, Ala., Brianna McKala Johnson, a former member care specialist in eServices at Alabama Credit Union, has been sentenced to 60 months of probation, including 14 months of home detention, for her role in a social media wire fraud scheme that led to thousands of dollars in losses.
According to prosecutors, the operators of a Telegram channel called “The Lucky Shop,” where stolen and fraudulent checks along with log-in information for financial accounts could be found, reached out to Johnson and she agreed to participate.
Johnson provided account information, including usernames, passwords, card numbers and PINs.
The criminal activity also involved making changes within ACU’s Call-24 telephonic service, which allowed people with a PIN code to withdraw funds at an ATM or ITM without using a card.