Former Bank Temp Charged with ID Theft

A three-month banking stint at the Bank of New York Mellon paid off in more ways than one for a 19-year-old computer technician, The New York Post reports. Or rather, that was the man’s age in 2001, when he first embarked on an alleged $1.1 million fraud spree that reportedly involved the movement of small amounts of money from the accounts of charities to dummy bank and brokerage accounts he set up with personal information stolen from 150 employees of the bank’s Wall Street headquarters.

Now, little less than a decade after he began his alleged years-long scam, Adeniyi Adeyemi is 27 and facing a 149-count indictment with charges including grand larceny, identity theft, money laundering and more. If convicted, the Brooklyn resident could spend up to 25 years in jail, according to The Wall Street Journal. Adeyemi has pleaded not guilty to the charges, the Journal reports.


A statement from the office of New York County District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau lays out the details behind the allegations. It suggests that Adeyemi stole from dozens of Bank of New York employees employed mainly in the Information Technology Department where he was assigned. Targeted charities included Goodwill Industries of Greater New York, the Sudanese American Community Development Organization, American Friends of Birdlife International and more.

Though it may seem especially unsavory to most, stealing from charities offers particular convenience to identity thieves, according to Morgenthau’s office. “In the interests of facilitating donations, many charities readily disseminate their banking details on the Internet, making them easy prey for unauthorized withdrawals by identity thieves, particularly those with computer expertise such as Adeyemi. Most of Adeyemi’s theft was perpetrated over the Internet.

Adeyemi’s alleged activities were complex, involving two layers of dummy account, money orders and shipments of goods overseas, primarily to Nigeria. He caught the attention of the New York/New Jersey Electronic Crimes Task Force of the United States Secret Service “when suspicious Internet activity traced back to wireless Internet connections in Adeyemi’s apartment building, and mail connected to the fraud was delivered to the various apartments within the building,” according to Morgenthau’s office.

What can consumers take away from Adeyemi’s case? Guard your banking details, monitor account statements regularly, and report any fraud to your financial institution immediately.