Credit union worker steals $300K from elderly customers’ accounts in NH, feds say
An Arkansas woman who worked remotely for a New Hampshire-based credit union stole more than $300,000 from elderly customers’ electronic banking accounts, federal prosecutors said.
Tyra Brown, 27, was sentenced to three years in prison and three years of supervised release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire said in an April 24 news release. She pleaded guilty in January to one count of wire fraud, according to court documents.
“The defendant deliberately abused her position of trust and chose to target elderly account holders, knowing some of whom were unfamiliar with electronic banking,” Acting U.S. Attorney Jay McCormack said in the release.
McClatchy News reached out to Brown’s attorney April 25 but did not immediately receive a response.
According to court documents, Brown was employed as a customer service representative and had access to customer account information. Between March and August 2023, she used her access to direct customer money to personal bank accounts, prosecutors said.
She stole a total of more than $300,000 during that period from about 10 elderly customers, and she attempted to steal more money from them, according to court records.
Brown accessed sensitive, personal information in customers’ bank accounts on multiple times, including once when she spoke with two victims of a shared account then created an unauthorized online banking profile for them before wiring herself money from their accounts, per court records.
She sent four wires below the $25,000 threshold as to not appear suspicious, prosecutors said.