FDLE: Seniors targeted in debit card fraud scheme

ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - Dozens of unsuspecting seniors have been the victims of a debit card fraud scheme.   The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said two women were calling local, elderly account holders with the Central Florida Educator’s Federal Credit Union, claiming there were problems with their debit cards and convincing the account holders to hand over the cards and pin numbers, often times asking the elderly victims to drop the debit card into the mailbox to be picked up.

FDLE investigators said two Orlando women were behind the scheme. They made off with more than $50,000 since 2012 in the two part scheme.  After getting the debit cards, FDLE said the pair used fake checks to make phony deposits, and then drained the accounts before the bank even realized the money was never there in the first place.

“There’s a lag between the time that the check is deposited to the time that it’s actually validated that the money from that check is valid, so during that delay is when they would drain the account,” said FDLE Special Agent Supervisor Daniel Warren.

The investigation took more than a year, but on Friday FDLE agents arrested Marymateisha Sanders, 35, on multiple fraud charges. Her partner Deneisha Rhynes, 22, is still on the run.  Investigators are still trying to figure out how the victims were targeted and how exactly the alleged thieves learned their personal information.