Tuesday, March 16, 1999
Police seek suspect in check-kite scheme
Tristate banks see $35,000 in losses
BY TANYA BRICKING
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati police say a check-kiting suspect used a sophisticated plan to steal $35,000 from local banks — 10 times the amount of a typical bank fraud.
Detectives say Ray Isham, 29, had a scheme that involved about a dozen people who wrote fraudulent checks that netted Mr. Isham cash.
The Price Hill man now faces felony theft warrants and is one of Cincinnati's Most Wanted suspects.
His alleged scheme, which began in October, extended from Clermont County to Westwood, and police are investigating whether he operated in other areas. He was last spotted a week ago in Middletown.
“He recruited people off the street to open bank accounts at three different banks,” said Cincinnati Police Spc. William O'Brien, a fraud squad investigator. “They all started writing worthless checks to each
other.”
Once the accounts were artificially inflated, Mr. Isham would have the account holders withdraw money before the checks cleared, Spc. O'Brien said. “It's greed on their part. They knew they were going to get a couple hundred dollars for their trouble.”
Mr. Isham faces two felony theft charges, which prosecutors could extend to more serious charges of corrupt activity. The other suspects also will face theft charges.
Banks nationwide lose $500 million each year to bank fraud, said Janet Eissenstat, spokeswoman for the American Bankers Association in Washington, D.C. That translates into 300,000 annual cases of bank fraud.
In Cincinnati, check kiting makes up less than 15 percent of cases the fraud unit investi gates.
Kiting refers to a scheme in which a series of checks are drawn on nonexistent funds, taking advantage of the time it takes checks to clear.
Banks safeguard against such fraud by training employees to spot unusual behavior. The biggest tip-offs are large transactions, Ms. Eissenstat said. In Mr. Isham's case, the average withdrawal of the account holders involved was $2,500.
What makes his case unusual was that he cleared 10 times the typical hit of about $3,500, Spc. O'Brien said.
Mr. Isham is described as a 6- foot-2 black man with short black hair and brown eyes. He has missing upper teeth and pierced ears. His last known address was on Westmont Drive in Price Hill.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 352-3040. Callers may remain anonymous.
THE SCHEME
Cincinnati police say Ray Isham used a sophisticated plan to steal $35,000 from banks by having a group of people open accounts and write fake checks that would net him cash.
Here's an example that police offered:
• An acquaintance of Mr. Isham opened a bank account.
• On Dec. 8, Mr. Isham deposited $3,600 in checks from a third person into the account.
• The acquaintance withdrew $3,350.
• Police suspect Mr. Isham used the acquaintance's bank card to withdraw $240.
• The loss to the bank was $3,590.
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