According to information recently released by the United States Department of Justice, a single email left a company wide open for bank fraud.  This is an excellent example for administrators to provide continuous reminders to email users.  Emails from people or entities we have no connection with, no matter how legitimate they appear, should not be opened.

September 11, 2008 – Timothy M. Morrison, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, announced that Carima Jansen, 32, of Burien, Washington, was sentenced to 13 months imprisonment today by U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young following her guilty plea to aiding in the interstate transport of stolen funds. Jansen is also believed to use the alias names “Adriana Ivan, Adriana Barkey, and Adriana Teodorescu.” This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Between September 12, 2007, and September 26, 2007, Wesselman’s Grocery stores’ computer system in Evansville, Indiana was compromised by a program that allowed the perpetrators to obtain the user ID and password for Wesselman’s bank account. The program infiltrated Wesselman’s computer system through a fraudulent e-mail that was purportedly sent by the Better Business Bureau. Jansen admitted opening an account with a U.S. Bank branch located in the State of Washington on or about September 14, 2007, using a counterfeit passport from Denmark as her identification.

On September 19, 2007, a $14,672 unauthorized electronic funds transfer was made from Wesselman’s bank account using the stolen user ID and password.  The funds were deposited into Jansen’s U.S. Bank account. On September 19, 2007, Jansen made two cash withdrawals from the account of $10,000 and $4,500. Jansen stated that she then forwarded the stolen funds to other participants in the scheme outside the United States. A total of $44,279 was stolen from Wesselman’s by Jansen and other participants in the scheme.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd S. Shellenbarger, who prosecuted the case for the government, Judge Young also imposed 2 years supervised release following Jansen’s release from imprisonment. During the period of supervised release, Jansen must make restitution in the amount of $44,279 to Wesselman’s.