A man and woman who were part of a California fraud ring usedfake credit cards and conspired with another person feigning as acustomer service representative to steal thousands in cash advancesfrom credit unions and banks in nine states.

Michael Lee Thomas, 46, of Oakland (pictured at left) andBarbara John Lopp, 53, of Stockton, pleaded not guilty toconspiracy to commit bank fraud last month in U.S. District Courtin Oakland.

Although the FBI began investigating the fraud ring in June2013, it wasn't until Feb. 12, 2015, when the couple was arrestedat a branch of the $15.9 million Municipal Credit Union in Sioux City, Iowa,where their cash advance scheme drew suspicion from employees whocontact police.

Iowa prosecutors charged the California couple with severalfelony counts of credit card fraud, forgery and identity theft, butthose charges were dismissed after the federal indictment was filedon July 16.

Iowa police investigators said Thomas and Lopp hit more than 100financial institutions in Iowa alone over three weeks. Because itwas suspected that the duo might have carried out their scheme inat least three other states, law enforcement authorities posted anationwide bulletin to alert financial institutions.

However, court documents revealed that Thomas and Lopp were alsooperating their cash advance scheme in eight other states: NewHampshire, Massachusetts, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Michigan,Oklahoma and Kansas.

After flying to a state, they would rent a car and drive toseveral financial institutions over the course of a few days. Onsome of these trips, the California couple would score $40,000 ormore after hitting four or more financial institutions.

Thomas and Lopp would take turns going into the branch andsometimes told tellers the cash advance was needed to pay for arelative's funeral expenses. In addition to the fake credit cards,they also used bogus IDs.

When tellers processed the cash advance request, it would bedeclined. Thomas or Lopp would then say there might be a blockbecause they were traveling outside of their normal geographic areaand ask the teller to call the credit card company, according tocourt documents.

However, the toll-free number on the fake credit card also wasfake, and the person who answered that number was working withThomas and Lopp, according to court documents.

The individual pretending to be a customer servicerepresentative verbally authorized the cash advance and gave theteller a series of instructions, leading the credit union or bankto manually post the transaction to the fraudulent credit card,which is sometimes called a forced post transaction.

This fraudulent transaction is often not discovered, however,until a chargeback notice is later received by the financialinstitution, according to federal investigators.

Although court papers do not say how many financial institutionsthe California duo hit and the total amount of money they stoleover their 20-month scheme, several credit unions and a bank arementioned as examples.

On June 27, 2013, Thomas and Lopp (pictured at left)fraudulently obtained $24,000 in cash advances from three differentbranches in Massachusetts and New Hampshire of the $6.4 billionDigital Federal Credit Union in Marlborough, Mass.

Two months later on Aug. 20, 2013, Lopp walked into a branch ofthe $555 million Gulf Winds Federal Credit Union of Pensacola, Fla.and fraudulently secured an $8,000 cash advance, according to courtdocuments.

On Sept. 5, 2014, Lopp fraudulently obtained $19,650 in cashadvances from two Kansas branches of the $282 million Great PlainsFederal Credit Union of Joplin, Mo.

And on Nov. 12, 2014, Thomas fraudulently obtained $19,700 fromtwo branches of the $102 million Focus Federal Credit Union inOklahoma City, Okla.

According to court documents, Thomas and Lopp also fraudulentlystole a total of $39,500 in credit card cash advances from ChaseBank locations in Michigan, New York and New Jersey.

Digital FCU declined to comment about this case when reachedWednesday because of the ongoing litigation. The other creditunions mentioned in court documents did not respond to CUTimes' request for comment.

If convicted, Thomas and Lopp could face up to 30 years inprison.