Fake Proof of Funds from a real bank..
Everything is for sale. Were you ever in need for a Proof of Funds letter for a couple of million without having the money? Some financial services companies “lease” funds to customers by opening bank accounts in the customers’ names and depositing funds into the accounts (“leased-funds accounts”) for a predetermined period of time. The customers obtain a Proof of Funds letter (“POF”) from the bank, which they can use to improve their apparent creditworthiness when applying for loans or seeking credit from lending institutions. POF documents are typically prepared by banks and other financial institutions to verify the balance of funds in a particular bank account. This alone may sound a bit strange for regular Joe’s with a bimonthly paycheck.
On Tuesday nine people were arrested in an $7 million fraud. Amongst the (un)lucky ones are the purported chief executive of Apogee Financial Inc. and two Wells Fargo Corp. (WFC) bank branch employees in California. The U.S. Attorney’s office said persons who were looking to temporarily lease funds in order to enhance their creditworthiness when applying for loans were instead provided with false proof- of-funds letters on bank stationary showing the funds had been deposited in their accounts. They were never actually provided the funds, prosecutors said. Complicit bank employees were allegedly paid by Apogee to falsely verify the existence of the leased-funds accounts, the government said. According to a U.S. Secret Service agent’s affidavit in support of the arrest warrants, the Secret Service has verified at least fifty false proof-of-funds letters purchased from Apogee.
Apogee allegedly advertised its leased funds services on www.craigstlist.com and through various brokers, and offered to lease funds to borrowers for a short period of time, often 60 days, in exchange for fees ranging from $40,000 for a leased-funds account of $2 million, to over $300,000 for leased funds accounts of $750,000,000 or more. However, Apogee never actually provided any funds, but instead simply printed fraudulent POF documents on bank stationery — including Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Wachovia Bank — which falsely represented that the funds were held in an account at one of those banks in the borrower’s name. Apogee allegedly paid collusive bank employees, including Wells Fargo staff, to falsely verify the existence of the leased-funds accounts when clients called to ensure that the funds were in place.
It sounds like a 419 type of scam in the real world. But nowadays.. what exactly is the real financial world??
http://obama.wsj.com/article/05fgfSafOm1Ar?q=Bank+of+America
