An Atlanta man was sentenced to more than three years in prison last month for running a social media scheme that deposited more than $1 million in fraudulent checks at the $75.1 billion Navy Federal Credit Union, USAA and BB&T.

Stefon D. Clark, 27, was also ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Steve C. Jones in Atlanta on June 23 to pay restitution of more than $613,000. Clark pleaded guilty to two counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

In November 2015, Ayanna Johnson, 23, and Quantaves Curry, 27, also of Atlanta, were also sentenced to more than three years in prison for participating in the social media scheme.

They each pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Johnson and Curry also were ordered to pay more than $613,000 in restitution.

According to court documents, Clark, Johnson and Curry ran the scam that lasted at least 17 months and compromised more than 240 bank accounts, which resulted in more than $600,000 in losses to the Vienna, Va.-based cooperative and the two banks.

Federal prosecutors said the defendants posted advertisements on social media sites, such as Instagram, that sought individuals who had bank accounts with certain financial institutions and were looking to make fast cash.

The criminal trio offered money to individuals in exchange for access to their bank accounts, ATM cards, debit cards and PIN numbers. After gaining access to those accounts, the defendants used ATMs and smartphones to deposit stolen or closed-account checks.

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The financial institutions typically made all or a portion of the amount of the deposited checks immediately available for withdrawal. Shortly after depositing the checks, Clark, Johnson and Curry withdrew cash, used the debit cards to make retail purchases or transferred the funds to another account they controlled.

After the financial institutions discovered the checks were fake, they contacted individuals who sold their account and PIN information to the scammers. The defendants then told those individuals to tell Navy Federal and the banks that their financial information and cards had been stolen, according to court documents.

Clark, Johnson and Curry fraudulently deposited hundreds of bogus checks with face values of at least $1.1 million, prosecutors said.

“While we cannot comment on this particular situation, we do affirm that any type of fraud perpetrated against any one of our members is unacceptable,” Navy Federal SVP of Security Robert Carlisle said in a prepared statement. “Our members' information and banking security is of the utmost importance, and is something we work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to protect. We also provide valuable information and preventive tips to our members so that together we can form an even stronger defense against fraudsters.” 

This is the second social media fraud scheme to hit Navy Federal.

In January, two men were sentenced to more than five years in prison for using popular social media sites to run a similar debit card and check fraud scheme that siphoned more than $100,000 from Navy Federal, the $2.2 billion Langley Federal Credit Union in Newport News, Va., the $1.4 billion Bayport Credit Union in Newport News and Wells Fargo Bank, according to federal prosecutors.

Join us at the new Credit Union Times Fraud: Don't Let It Happen To Your Credit Union Conference, where you will find the latest tools and techniques for preventing fraud and data breaches; strategies for responding in the immediate aftermath and best practices for restoring reputation, financial stability and information security .  This two-day conference is designed for credit union executives, board of directors and those responsible for your credit unions cyber security policy.    Register to attend and save $150.