BEAVERTON, Ore.–A man here has been sentenced to four years in prison for a scam in which he posed as a credit union employee and made calls to members to defraud them of their funds.
The scam is similar to others that have grown increasingly sophisticated as fraudsters pose as a credit union—including mimicking its phone number—and contact members claiming it’s part of a security check. CUToday.info recently profiled the rising threat here.
Winston Gray, 31, of Beaverton, Ore., was sentenced in federal court for bank fraud and aggravated identity theft after being found guilty of faking telephone messages and calls to credit union members in which he posed as an employee in order to defraud them of about $60,000.
According to the Gazette-Times, Gray used the information he obtained from members to set up fake debit and credit cards, which he then used to purchase various consumer goods.
More Than 80 People Targeted
In March and April of 2020, Gray targeted more than 80 people in the scheme across multiple mid-Oregon credit unions, the report stated, noting Oregon State Credit Union had enough of its members targeted that it sent out an email alert and put a fraud prevention message on the homepage of its website.
But the scams targeting members in Oregon (and elsewhere) are hardly over due to Gray’s arrest. The Gazette-Times noted just two weeks ago Oregon State CU sent another alert to members warning them about scammers positing as employees.
Gray was not involved in that scam attempt, however, as he was already serving time for state charges of bank fraud and identity theft, the report stated.