Boston Woman Charged In Bank Fraud Scheme

BOSTON – A Boston woman has been charged with making fraudulent withdrawals from accounts in other people’s names at Citizens Bank branches throughout Massachusetts.

On March 19, Kimberly B. Gomez, 53, was indicted with bank fraud. According to the indictment, beginning in 2010, Gomez and others participated in a scheme to obtain personal identification and account information for Citizens Bank customers and to use that information to withdraw money from these customers’ accounts. A participant in the scheme obtained, from Citizens Bank, the names of customers with high savings account balances, along with their home addresses, dates of birth, and account numbers. Another participant took Gomez’s picture and used it, along with the information from Citizens Bank, to obtain fake ID’s with the names and addresses of Citizens’ customers. Gomez then used these fake IDs to make the fraudulent withdrawals from Citizens Bank.

The indictment alleges that Gomez was able to withdraw more than $67,000 from accounts belonging to three different Citizens customers. She tried, unsuccessfully, to withdraw another $13,000.

If convicted, Gomez faces a statutory maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and five years of supervised release.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Thomas P. Baker, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service in Boston, made the announcement today. Citizens Bank cooperated with the investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Adam J. Bookbinder of Ortiz’s Cybercrime Unit.

The details contained in the indictment are allegations. The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.