“This was a very elaborate scheme, and our team of fraud analysts and investigators worked tirelessly to assist the PA Office of Attorney General throughout the investigation, leading to these charges and the resulting sentencing,” MFFCU said in a prepared statement to CU Times. “Members 1st Federal Credit Union ensured that no Members 1st member faced financial loss as a result of this scheme and is pleased to learn that the AG’s Office has announced the sentencing of additional individuals charged in this 2023 bank fraud and impersonation scheme.”

Although at least six suspects have been arrested and charged so far, none of them have been sentenced. The accused are presumed innocent until proven guilty by a judge or a jury.

The Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General and the Pennsylvania State Police initiated an investigation in January 2023.

Around that time, MFFCU members reported funds were being stolen from their accounts after receiving "vishing" phone calls or text messages from the fraudsters who claimed to be from the MFFCU Fraud Department. Vishing is the use of fraudulent phone calls to trick individuals into revealing their personally identifiable information (PII) and bank account details.

The credit union provided investigators with 30 phone numbers identified by the vishing victims. Some of these phone numbers were spoofed, meaning the callers involved in the fraud scheme disguised their actual phone number with another phone number to make it appear the caller ID that call originated from the credit union.

The suspects allegedly asked members to provide their PII, online banking logins and passwords. Once the fraudsters accessed a member’s account, they requested the two-factor authentication code sent to the member’s phone. After receiving this code, the fraudsters locked the members out of their accounts and electronically transferred large sums of money into one or more secondary MFFCU accounts, referred to as "funnel" accounts. These accounts, opened by co-conspirators, served as an intermediary layer to help conceal the fraudsters’ identities.

The suspects then withdrew the stolen funds from the funnel accounts via ATM transactions at local businesses, cash advance transactions at casinos, or digital payment apps such as Cash App and Zelle.

Investigators found that funnel account holders were recruited through social media platforms. Some of these individuals told police they had seen posts promising large sums of cash in exchange for allowing fraudsters to use their credit union accounts. Investigators also discovered that fraudsters purchased victims’ banking information on illicit online marketplaces, which specialize in selling compromised bank and credit card data.

Authorities identified Jeremy Antuan Boria Fraticelli, 22, of Dover, Pa., as the alleged leader of the 24-person fraud ring who coordinated the theft and electronic transfer of funds from victims’ accounts into the funnel accounts.

According to authorities, five other high-ranking members of the criminal ring were identified as Kermith Roldan-Lopez, 39; Juan Woodard Jr., 23; Tahire Reid, 26; Daniel Casiano, 22; Shawn Chance, 27 — all of York, Pa. Additional arrests of the remaining 18 co-conspirators are ongoing, investigators said.

According to court documents, Fraticelli used social media platforms to communicate with other social media users, including one who claimed to be a bank employee. The social media conversations Fraticelli had with this purported bank employee were extensive. In addition to discussing various forms of financial fraud, they also spoke about collaborating on scams to increase their profits.

One exchange revealed the bank employee claimed to have used funds from a deceased person’s account to pay for Fraticelli’s car payment.

“The user (bank employee) also created fictitious documents for Boria Fraticelli to assist his family members with obtaining housing,” state investigators wrote in a criminal complaint.

Fraticelli and his coconspirators were charged with crimes of corrupt organizations, dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities, ID theft, access device fraud, forgery, theft, criminal conspiracy, criminal solicitation, computer trespass and other related offenses, according to the criminal complaint.