Nine people have been arrested for allegedly depositing altered checks totaling more than $700,000, mostly at bank ATMs in Westchester and the Bronx.
The suspects were arrested from Aug. 12-19 and arraigned in U.S. District Court, Manhattan, on charges of conspiracy, bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.
The alleged crimes resemble check washing schemes that have bedeviled banks in Westchester and Rockland counties for several years, where checks are intercepted, payees”™ names and amounts are removed or obscured, and new names and amounts are written in.
The defendants in the current case deposited phony checks into accounts of third parties, according to the criminal complaint, using ATM machines in Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, White Plains and Yonkers. Before the banks detected the frauds, the defendants allegedly withdrew cash or used the funds to buy postal money orders.
In November 2018, for instance, Mohammed Sabaly allegedly deposited two altered checks totaling about $14,000 in a Yonkers ATM. One of the checks was on a company account but was not written by anyone at the company, according to an affidavit by U.S. Postal Inspector Robert W. Moerler.
Ten days later, someone bought $9,816.50 in postal money orders, with funds from the bank account.
In May 2019, Abubackr Danso allegedly deposited an altered check for $216,877.49 in a Mount Vernon ATM. Nine days later, $29,991 in postal money orders were bought with funds from the bank account.
Anyone cashing a postal money order must show identification that proves they are the payee.
Investigators used state motor vehicle records, as well as surveillance footage of ATMs and New York City police records to identify some of the suspects.
They also got a search warrant for Saibo Sidibeh”™s Facebook account.
In October 2018, four days before Sidibeh allegedly made a phony $30,567 deposit in a Yonkers ATM, he purportedly messaged co-defendant Moukhamede Fall on “how we can make $25,000.”
Sidibeh allegedly described a technique in which the “check” is actually a piece of paper that is jammed into the machine, causing the ATM to malfunction but still allowing the “check” to register. When the deposit clears in a couple of days, but before the scam is detected, the funds can be used.
ATMs in Manhattan, New Jersey, Connecticut and Florida also were used, according to the complaint.
The other defendants are Mamady Danfakha, Alhasana Hydara, Mamadou Diallo, Demba Diakite and Bangaly Doumbia.
If found guilty, they can be imprisoned for up to 30 years on the conspiracy and bank fraud charges and two years for identity theft.
The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and New York City Police Department. Andrew A. Rohrbach, an assistant federal prosecutor, is in charge of the case.
