La Inmaculada Credit Union scammed with forged cheques
fitzroy yearwood
A sizeable amount of money was cashed in forged cheques at La Inmaculada Credit Union in Orange Walk. On August sixth Yolanda Gomez, the manager, is said to have reported to police that nine Atlantic Bank cheques were cashed between July fourteenth and thirtieth. The signatures on those cheques, which totalled nineteen thousand two hundred Belize dollars, turned out to be forged. Another report was made on August eighteenth after the credit union received four thousand three hundred dollars in fraudulent Heritage Bank cheques. Police Press Officer, Fitzroy Yearwood spoke to News Five about the ongoing investigation.
Sgt. Fitzroy Yearwood, Police Press Officer
“We are not certain if the identities are true identities because of course it’s a forgery situation. But we are following several into this forgery report and hopefully we will be able to make an arrest or two in the near future.”
Marion Ali
“News Five called La Inmaculada and we asked to speak with the manager and that lady came on answering to the name Ms. Gomez but she said she did not make the report to the police.”
Sgt. Fitzroy Yearwood
“The police couldn’t make the report to themselves and of course, unless a report is made we cannot launch an investigation. I’m not sure where the discrepancy came about or who made what mistake but I know that if an institution receives forged documents, it wouldn’t be that a teller from that institution would come in and make that report, it has to be made by the manager. So even if it’s made by a teller it’s on behalf of the manager of that institution.”
Marion Ali
“What are you looking to? Employees of the bank who may have worked along with somebody from the bank who may have worked along with somebody from the outside? Was it a night deposit? Was it a deposit to a savings, checking account? Was it somebody who merely went in and cashed a couple cheques?”
Sgt. Fitzroy Yearwood
“Somebody had merely went in and cashed a couple cheques. That’s what we’re looking at right now.”
Two suspects have been detained for questioning.
It would make sense that when cashing a large check like these obviously were, there should be procedures in place to help prevent fraud of this kind. For instance, they need to hold the checks for several days and only allow a certain percent to be obained right away. This will give them time to authenticate the validity of the check. This is the processed used in the States to help deter fraud. If the person cashing the check is not a member of the credit union, then they would need to be finger printed and have their identification copied to help with any investigation should there be a case of fraud like this one.