Coral Gables Police Searching For Bank Fraud Suspect
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CORAL GABLES (CBSMiami) – New surveillance tape shows a young woman smiling as she persuades a Coral Gables bank to cash a fake check for $8436 and as she tries to cash another counterfeit check for $5500 at another bank.
Coral Gables Police officer and spokeswoman Lauren Poole tells CBS4's Peter D'Oench that the woman is "calm and comfortable and not nervous."
"My concern is that she has done this before and is comfortable doing it and that we don't want other people to become victims of identity theft," says Poole.
It all happened on the afternoon of August 8th.
CLICK HERE To Watch Peter D'Oench's Report
Poole says the woman is first captured on camera at 2:25 p.m. on that date at a SunTrust Bank at 100 Miracle Mile. That's where the woman cashes a check for $8,436.22.
Then at 2:50 p.m., Poole says she is seen entering a Wells Fargo Bank at 2100 Ponce De Leon Boulevard and tries to cash another counterfeit check for $5500.
In both cases, she uses an Ohio Driver's License and another ID card with two different names that are also fake: Rebecca Brown and Shaneeka Parker.
"She got away with the first instance of fraud and 25 minutes later, she walked into a Wells Fargo bank," says Poole. "You can tell she seems very calm and is laughing in the video and her demeanor shows she is very comfortable and does not appear to be nervous which tells us she may have tried to commit this crime somewhere else."
"At the Wells Fargo bank, she presented her identification and the teller notices the Ohio drivers license and notices that this is not the same person standing in front of her right there at the time," says Poole.
She says an alert teller makes contact with the person whose name is on the check and realizes it's a fake and does not cash it.
Poole says, "I would say we are looking for a black female who is perhaps Hispanic in her early 20s. She could be 18 or 19 and you can see on both videos that she is wearing an ivory detailed tank top with a gold necklace and hot pink lipstick."
It's not known if the woman had an accomplice.
It's also not known how this woman was able to cash the first check for $8436.22 at the Suntrust Bank. D'Oench stopped at both banks but was told that bank managers were not able to comment.
Anyone who can help identify the woman is urged to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers anonymously at (305) 471-TIPS (8477) or contact Detective M. Christensen of the Coral Gables Police Department at (305) 442-1600.
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