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A 26-year-old West Allis man is facing serious charges after being accused of defrauding Educators Credit Union out of more than $53,000.
Between January and June 2022, Brandon Howard was the perpetrator of a check fraud scheme called card cracking, according to the criminal complaint filed Nov. 30 in Milwaukee County Circuit Court.
Card cracking is when fraudsters use social media ― Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or Snapchat ― to recruit people with existing or recently created financial accounts to give up their debit card and PIN or allow use of their accounts by the recruiter, according to the criminal complaint.
These account holders are primarily young adults and will frequently be convinced to also give up their mobile and/or online banking credentials (username and password). At this point, they are active participants in the fraud.
Once the fraudster has the individual’s account information, they will deposit fraudulent checks into that account ― checks that have been stolen, altered, are counterfeit or from a closed account. The bogus deposit temporarily inflates the account balance and gives the appearance that the account has funds available for use. Fraudsters take advantage of this temporary inflation to quickly withdraw funds before the financial institution becomes aware of what's going on.
The complaint revealed that after a search of Howard's phone, text messages showed that Howard organized these transactions with multiple people by using PINs and debit cards associated with these accounts. Each offense was in connection with a person that Howard organized and managed.
According to the complaint:
Howard's fraud scheme started on Jan. 20, 2022, when he went to the Educators Credit Union located at 1400 N. Newman Road in Racine and made two $500 deposits. Both deposits were completed by using the same debit card and PIN number of the account owner. These deposits were both withdrawn from the account that same day.
Howard went to a second Educators Credit Union at 2243 N. Prospect Ave. in Milwaukee on Jan. 21, 2022, and again made two $500 deposits using the debit card and PIN number of the same account holder from the day before. These transactions were both withdrawn from the account the same day.
Howard repeated the same actions at the Educators on Prospect Avenue the following day, with two additional $500 deposits made into the same account and withdrawn that same day.
Jan. 23 to Jan. 24, Howard committed two more fraudulent transactions. For one of them, the EDCU mobile app was used to take photos of three separate $1,000 checks.
Howard continued these fraudulent tactics until May, resulting in a total loss of $53,363.69 for EDCU.
ATM surveillance cameras captured Howard numerous times during 2022. He continued depositing the fake checks into different accounts using real debit cards and PIN numbers, then the money would be quickly withdrawn from the accounts.
Investigators believe Howard was working with the account holders due to him having access to their debit cards and PINs. Authorities believe Howard was splitting profits of the stolen money with them.
So far, no one else has been charged in the defrauding case.
Howard faces five charges, all felonies: being an organizer of financial crimes, money laundering, fraud against a financial institution, wire fraud against a financial institution and forgery-uttering.
If convicted of all charges, Howard faces a maximum penalty of 47 years in prison and up to $120,000 in fines. He is due back in court on Dec. 27.