ST. LOUIS — A Commerce Bank manager pleaded not guilty Thursday to defrauding $175,000 from elderly customers at a St. Louis branch.
Andrea Nicole Hopkins, 28, of Florissant was indicted Sept. 7 on four counts of felony bank fraud. Each count is punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
According to the indictment, Hopkins devised a scheme to divert money from customer accounts while working as a manager from February 2020 to May 2021 at the Commerce Bank branch on Natural Bridge Avenue.
Hopkins diverted more than $328,000 from customer accounts, the indictment says, but $152,000 of that was transferred internally among customers.
Hopkins targeted elderly customers, including two 80-year-olds, an 82-year-old and a 95-year-old, by logging into their accounts to transfer funds, sometimes obtaining cashier's checks or prepaid cards.
The indictment also alleges Hopkins changed the address on account statements, forged customer signatures and transferred funds among customers to try to hide the theft.
Tips for safe banking:
Older adults can be easy targets for financial scams, and fraud is on the rise.
According to the National Council on Aging, there were nearly 92,400 older victims of fraud in 2021, with losses totaling $1.7 billion. That's a 74% increase in losses compared to 2020.
Here are a few tips to boost your online financial security from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security:
- Check credit card and bank statements regularly for unrecognizable charges, deposits or withdrawals. You can also sign up to receive alerts.
- Create strong passwords using upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters.
- Use two-factor verification, which, in addition to requiring your password, sends a security code via phone or email to confirm your identity.
- Be cautious about who your share your personal financial information with.
- Scammers may call, text or email pretending to be your bank. When in doubt if it's legitimate, do not click any links or share passwords. Instead, call your financial institution directly.
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