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Federal authorities are investigating a Louisiana man for his alleged role in a text and phone scam that impersonated employees from a credit union's fraud department and resulted in nearly $160,000 in losses.
Kerington Jermani Briscoe, 30, of Baton Rouge was arrested in January after an investigation by the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office, which charged him with bank fraud, theft and the illegal transmission of monetary funds. His case was later turned over to the Department of Justice, the sheriff's office said.
On May 5, 2025, the $1.3 billion Neighbors Federal Credit Union in Baton Rouge reported members received text messages from the credit union asking whether they had made a transaction for a certain amount. After members replied that they had not, they received a call from someone claiming to be from Neighbors FCU fraud department, according to a police affidavit.
After being asked a series of questions, members provided their online banking login credentials to the impersonator. The caller told members their accounts would be unavailable for 48 hours while the credit union conducted an investigation. However, when members later check their balances online, they discovered most of their money had been withdrawn, police investigators said.
On May 2, Briscoe allegedly opened two accounts at Neighbors FCU. The next day on May 3, his accounts received multiple fraudulent deposits of $10,000 transferred from members' accounts. Briscoe allegedly routed some of the funds to other co-defendants who were not identified in the police affidavit.
Surveillance video shows Briscoe allegedly making cash withdrawals at the teller window at the L'Auberge Casino in Lake Charles.
"In all, Neighbors FCU is suffering a $158,444 (loss) from the scheme which involved five victimized members' banking accounts," the affidavit, in part, said.
Peter Strozniak can be reached at peter.strozniak@arc-network.com.
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