Stolen check scheme organized through Instagram cost banks $2.7 million, feds say

A Southern California man will serve seven years in prison in a $2.7 million bank and mail fraud scheme, federal officials reported.

Carlos Corona, 37, of South Los Angeles was sentenced Monday, Aug. 19, on charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said in a news release.

Corona organized an ”elaborate bank fraud scheme using third-party bank accounts and stolen checks” from October 2020 to August 2023, prosecutors said.

The conspirators used Instagram to recruit accomplices, who provided their bank account information in return for a share of the stolen money, prosecutors said.

Checks stolen from the mail, including mailboxes outside U.S. post offices, were deposited into the provided accounts and then money was withdrawn, prosecutors said.

Corona and other conspirators advised their accomplices to say their accounts had been tampered with if questioned by financial institutions, prosecutors said.

The scheme cost banks and credit unions $2.7 million, federal officials said, and there are 10 convictions in the case.