The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Happy ending in the works but everyone should be aware
by Mark Reaman
A recent bank-wire fraud scheme could have cost the Crested Butte-Mt. Crested Chamber of Commerce thousands of dollars but through some quick action, small town relationships and some good luck, lessons have been learned and the money never got to the bad guys.
The story began the morning of Wednesday, March 2 when an email was sent to chamber bookkeeper Leah Fischer. Fischer works as a paramedic with the Crested Butte Fire Protection District and was on an ambulance call that morning until just after noon. When she got to her chamber office she discovered an email from “Dave Ochs” and the [email protected] email address.
The email had the subject line of “Wire Transfer” and was addressed personally to Leah. It stated Ochs needed to make an “urgent” wire transfer and asked if she was around for her assistance. She responded and began an email correspondence getting the amount and the wiring instructions. Unbeknownst to Fischer, the reply was going to [email protected].
“I figured it involved a possible sponsorship with a future event, coming off some large recent events,” Fischer explained.
By the time she knew how much and where to wire the money it was after 2 p.m. The deadline to wire money at the Crested Butte Bank (a branch of Gunnison Bank and Trust) was 2:15 p.m. She hurried over to the bank and got the money sent just under the wire deadline. She texted Ochs that she was able to make the wire transfer.
Back at the office, Leah emailed “Ochs” that the money was wired and he asked for a copy of the transfer document. Because she had a light carbon copy, she asked the bank to email her a copy of the original.
While waiting for the Crested Butte Bank to email a copy of the transfer document, she began looking over the email correspondence. She noticed that the font in the emails from Ochs was not black but very dark blue. That was unusual, different from other standard emails from Ochs.
“I started to realize that maybe something was up. My heart sank. I had a bad gut feeling and I felt sick,” she said. “I texted Dave to call me ASAP.”
Ochs did. “I was in an OVPP meeting and I had gotten her first texts that didn’t make sense to me and thought they were just meant for someone else,” Ochs relayed. “When I got the text to call her I left the meeting and got hold of her. We both realized something bad had just happened.”
In the meantime, Fischer realized she might have been scammed. She immediately called the bank to try to stop the wire transfer. Autumn Bailey at the bank said it had gone out and advised her to reach out to the marshals for a police report that could help stop the transfer.
Fischer said chief marshal Tom Martin dropped what he was doing and helped get the report going. She took that report to the bank just after 3 p.m. and Bailey put a “fraud alert” on the transfer. But Bailey admitted it was probably too late to stop the money from going to the unintended source.
“You can’t believe what that felt like,” said Fischer. “The realization was awful. At first I was so proud I was able to help Dave and get the wire out in time. Then I was crushed.”
Over at the marshal’s office, officer James Beda contacted the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), along with his wife, who works at the Gunnison branch of the GB&T. Ultimately they were able to trace the wire to a branch of Bank of America in Maryland. From there it was headed to India. The personnel at the Maryland Bank saw the fraud alert on the wire before posting it and stopped the progression with a hold on the funds. Otherwise it would now be in a bank account in India.
Crested Butte chief marshal Tom Martin said it was extremely lucky that the funds weren’t lost. “When officer Beda contacted the CBI they said the best chance we had was to get ahead of the wire. James spent most of his night shift calling anyone he could find from the Bank of America asking to put a hold on that wire. He talked to and left messages for a lot of people. I got a call the next morning from a woman from Bank of America asking to verify that the request from officer Beda to freeze the funds was legitimate. I confirmed it and she put a recall on the wire. I couldn’t believe it,” said Martin.
“Autumn Bailey at the bank and Lisa Beda were also instrumental in getting the alert out in the first hours,” continued Martin. “The CBI investigators called on Thursday to see what the status of the case was and they said they’d never heard of a successful freeze on a wire. Wire transfers are almost immediate. James received a letter of commendation for the work on the case.”
Lessons learned
Ochs couldn’t say enough good things about the efforts of those who helped the chamber in a bad situation. “It’s one of those scams that works maybe once or twice every 40,000 times. Really bad luck,” said Ochs. “The timing in this situation was perfect. The person had gone to our website and seen our names. He constructed what looked like a legitimate email. Leah was busy, the request looked urgent and I was in an all-day meeting. The pieces all just fell into place.”
“But then we had some good luck,” continued Ochs. “Everyone involved was great and said it was an anomaly that the money didn’t make it all the way to India. A combination of quick action and good people working together probably saved us that money. The marshals were incredible and we are so grateful they acted so quickly and so resolutely on our behalf. James, Tommy and all the Marshal’s office—just incredible! Same goes for the Crested Butte Bank/Gunnison Bank and Trust—they were amazing! We are humbled by their efforts. Lisa, Tina, Autumn, Ashley and the whole crew at the bank, we are so grateful for small town banking and the immediate assistance.”
Ochs and Fischer said there are lessons learned for the chamber and any business from the incident. “Every business should review their policies and protocols,” recommended Ochs. “Make sure all the checks and balances are in place. For us, we now have a policy there will be no wiring of money. There are fewer people on the signatory accounts.”
Ochs said the chamber board does not want to reveal the exact amount of the transfer until the funds are unfrozen and returned to the bank account but it was well into the thousands of dollars. The bank protocol stipulates that the funds will be frozen for up to 90 days so the recipient can have the opportunity to make a case to claim the money. That is very unlikely in this case.
“I hope they come to the bank and try to make that claim and they get arrested,” admitted Ochs. “I would love for them to come here and try to make a claim on that money.”
Martin said others in town have been scammed in the past. “The moral of the story is to never, ever, ever send funds to anyone if they use email. Be absolutely sure first by talking to the person in question. Just be very, very aware,” he concluded.
