Money Mule Arrested Using Bank Account

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A Gainesville woman who gave her bank account information to someone she met online has been arrested on multiple charges including grand theft and money laundering after investigators learned that money gotten through identity theft was deposited into her account.

Arrested was Karen Annette Corbin, 59, of 8107 SW 13th Road, according to an arrest report by the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff’s spokesman Art Forgey said the case should serve as a warning for residents to protect their bank account information and be cautious about people they meet online.

“This started off with meeting somebody online. It’s got all of those red flags of the scams that go on routinely,” Forgey said. “I think she was sucked in by him and at some point realized it was a scam, but didn’t think she would be liable for it since she wasn’t manipulating the account.”

The case began unraveling when officials with SunState Federal Credit Union became suspicious of deposits to Corbin’s account, authorities said.

On April 4, a deposit of $9,546 was made into her account from the Internal Revenue Service as a tax refund for a Richard Stewart, a sheriff’s report said.

On April 11, SunState got an email from Corbin asking if a tax refund check for a Michelle Scott had been deposited, according to the arrest report. Corbin on April 10 emailed SunState saying she was expecting deposits from Michelle Scott and a William Diaz that were scheduled for payment by IRS.

A teller replied that due to federal regulations, the checks would be returned to the IRS because they were for people other than Corbin.

On May 2, a deposit for $4,890 that was subject to an automatic credit hold was made into Corbin’s account by Wells Fargo Bank, the arrest report states. However, that deposit was canceled because of insufficient funds.

Meanwhile, money was being withdrawn from Corbin’s account and at one point she had a negative balance.

On May 14, Corbin deposited a check for $5,099. Because of the suspicious activity on the account, a hold was placed on that check. The report states Corbin told SunState she had won the $5,099.

A SunState investigator and the Sheriff’s Office began delving into the case. Several other questionable transactions occurred, police said, and investigators began tracing the people to whom the tax refunds were supposed to go, Internet service providers and other details.

It was eventually learned that the identities had been stolen from the people named as getting tax refunds, authorities said.

Corbin told the Sheriff’s Office she gave her SunState account information to a friend of her “boyfriend,” whom she met online and was working in Ghana, the report states.

The checks, she said, were sent to her from her boyfriend’s friend and were to help pay his expenses. Most of the money was withdrawn electronically while Corbin was to keep $1,000.

Corbin was charged Dec. 31 with scheming to defraud, grand theft, criminal use of personal identification and money laundering.

“Basically, this guy was using her account to launder money. She was participating in it,” Forgey said. “This time of year, we see it when people file their taxes and lo and behold, somebody has already filed with their Social Security number. A lot of this crime is originating overseas.”