A bank teller in Cleveland has been accused of forging customer names and other documents to steal approximately $75,000 from eight different victims' bank accounts. Denice James, a teller at First Federal Savings of Lorain, is alleged to have embezzled an additional $1,000 from the bank itself. The theft occurred between July 25, 2023, and November 2, 2023, with James reportedly forging customers’ names on bank slips and submitting them just before the bank closed, ensuring no customers were present to witness the fraudulent transactions. She would then process the withdrawals and take the cash for herself.
James has been charged with eight counts of bank fraud, eight counts of aggravated identity theft, and one count of embezzlement. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges. This incident highlights a growing trend of fraud schemes involving bank tellers, where employees exploit their positions to steal from customers and the bank itself. In May, a bank teller in Maryland pleaded guilty to stealing $255,000 from his employer’s elderly clients by having conspirators impersonate victims to make fraudulent bank withdrawals. In March, a bank teller from New York was accused of stealing $1,000,000 in cash from his bank’s vault by forging signatures.
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