CHEYENNE, Wyo.–Additional details are being shared in the case of a woman who allegedly attempted to cash a forged $985,000 check at a credit union.
As CUToday.info reported here, according to police, Pamela A. Kubesh, 55, of Lake Tomahawk, Wis., admitted she forged her name on a check for $985,020.00 and then attempted to deposit it using a fake name at a branch of WyHy Credit Union.
Now Cowboy State Daily has shared an update on what exactly took place inside the branch.
Andrea Valois, WyHy director of retail, told Cowboy State Daily the near $1-million check was “crazy,” and that there was no way WyHy or any financial institution would have cashed it or accepted it as a deposit. The CU has a $5,000 cap on daily cash withdrawals.
According to the report, Kubesh allegedly entered the branch in a red shirt and black coat in the afternoon and started setting up an account under the name of a Los Angeles resident with the initials NJR.
Questions Arise
Valois told Cowboy State Daily everything went smoothly at first, with Kubesh allegedly saying she’d followed her job to Wyoming and presented a California driver’s license.
But when the member service rep helping her asked for her Social Security number, the Kubesh hesitated, Valois told the publication.
“She had to look at a document that showed her Social Security number,” Volois was quoted as saying. “She didn’t know it off the top of her head, which is unusual.”
According to the report, the Social Security number was issued in 2011, which also caught the attention of employees.
It was after the account was opened that Kubesh allegedly presented the check for $985,020. Cowboy State Daily cited a federal affidavit in the U.S. District Court for Wyoming that stated the heck was from the U.S. Treasury and made payable to NJR.
Check Allegedly Washed
Cowboy State Daily Treasury Special Agent Bradley Peters later confirmed the Treasury Department did issue that check for that amount and to that person, but one of the lines detailing the payee information had reportedly been removed by being washed.
“The check itself looked as if it had gotten wet before. That was kind of strange as well,” Valois told Cowboy State Daily, referring to the process of washing the check.
The woman succeeded in depositing the check, the report stated, but WyHy personnel extended the usual 30-hour hold on cashing money from a new account to hold this new account for nine business days, Cowboy State Daily reported.
Returns With ‘Nephew’
WyHy Credit Union reported the Kubesh returned a short while later, this time with a man whom she introduced as her nephew, saying she wanted to add him to the account.
Valois told Cowboy State Daily the “nephew” also stumbled through providing a Social Security number; and though his driver’s license date claimed it to be a couple years old, it felt brand new to the advisor who examined it, the report stated.
As a result, the MSR went to get the branch manager.
“They were getting some little heebie jeebies, I guess, some little hairs standing up on their arms,” Valois told Cowboy State Daily.
Database Reveals Issue
Checking a shared database, the credit union learned that Kubesh — though they didn’t know her real name was Kubesh — had reportedly tried to open an account at a different Cheyenne credit union soon before coming to WyHy, Cowboy State Daily stated.
While all that was going on, WyHy reported Kubesh returned to the branch for a third time, again with her “nephew,” but this time asking why her online account access wasn’t working. Meanwhile, Kubesh walked into the bank a third time, again with her “nephew” by her side.
Kubesh wanted to know why her online bank account wasn’t working, said Valois. This time, the branch contacted the police as employees stalled, Cowboy State Daily reported. Kubesh was then arrested.
One Other Issue
Valois told the publication there was one other issue with a near $1 million withdrawal, even if there were no cash cap in place.
“It would take us forever to count that — and she’d need a lot of things to carry it,” Valois told the publication.
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