An Atlanta man was sentenced to more than three years in prisonlast month for running a social media scheme that deposited morethan $1 million in fraudulent checks at the $75.1 billion NavyFederal Credit Union, USAA and BB&T.

Stefon D. Clark, 27, was also ordered by U.S. District CourtJudge Steve C. Jones in Atlanta on June 23 to pay restitution ofmore than $613,000. Clark pleaded guilty to two counts of bankfraud and one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

In November 2015, Ayanna Johnson, 23, and Quantaves Curry, 27,also of Atlanta, were also sentenced to more than three years inprison for participating in the social media scheme.

They each pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit bankfraud. Johnson and Curry also were ordered to pay more than$613,000 in restitution.

According to court documents, Clark, Johnson and Curry ran thescam that lasted at least 17 months and compromised more than 240bank accounts, which resulted in more than $600,000 in losses tothe Vienna, Va.-based cooperative and the two banks.

Federal prosecutors said the defendants posted advertisements onsocial media sites, such as Instagram, that sought individuals whohad bank accounts with certain financial institutions and werelooking to make fast cash.

The criminal trio offered money to individuals in exchange foraccess to their bank accounts, ATM cards, debit cards and PINnumbers. After gaining access to those accounts, the defendantsused ATMs and smartphones to deposit stolen or closed-accountchecks.

Join us at the new Credit Union Times Fraud: Don't Let It Happen To Your Credit UnionConference,where you will find the latest tools and techniques for preventingfraud and data breaches; strategies for responding in the immediateaftermath and best practices for restoring reputation, financialstability and information security . This two-day conferenceis designed for credit union executives, board of directors andthose responsible for your credit unions cyber securitypolicy. Registerto attend and save $150.

The financial institutions typically made all or a portion ofthe amount of the deposited checks immediately available forwithdrawal. Shortly after depositing the checks, Clark, Johnson andCurry withdrew cash, used the debit cards to make retail purchasesor transferred the funds to another account they controlled.

After the financial institutions discovered the checks werefake, they contacted individuals who sold their account and PINinformation to the scammers. The defendants then told thoseindividuals to tell Navy Federal and the banks that their financialinformation and cards had been stolen, according to courtdocuments.

Clark, Johnson and Curry fraudulently deposited hundreds ofbogus checks with face values of at least $1.1 million, prosecutorssaid.

“While we cannot comment on this particular situation, we doaffirm that any type of fraud perpetrated against any one of ourmembers is unacceptable,” Navy Federal SVP of Security RobertCarlisle said in a prepared statement. “Our members' informationand banking security is of the utmost importance, and is somethingwe work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to protect. We also providevaluable information and preventive tips to our members so thattogether we can form an even stronger defense againstfraudsters.”

This is the second social media fraud scheme to hit NavyFederal.

In January, two men were sentenced to more than five years inprison for using popular social media sites to run a similar debit card and check fraud scheme that siphoned morethan $100,000 from Navy Federal, the $2.2 billion LangleyFederal Credit Union in Newport News, Va., the $1.4billion BayportCredit Union in Newport News and Wells Fargo Bank,according to federal prosecutors.

Join us at the new Credit Union Times Fraud:Don't Let It Happen To Your Credit UnionConference, whereyou will find the latest tools and techniques for preventing fraudand data breaches; strategies for responding in the immediateaftermath and best practices for restoring reputation, financialstability and information security . This two-dayconference is designed for credit union executives, board ofdirectors and those responsible for your credit unions cybersecurity policy. Registerto attend and save $150.