JPMorgan Chase Insider Drains Customers’ Accounts, Lifts $12,948 in Cash From ATMs: US Bank Regulator

A US regulator says a former JPMorgan Chase employee has admitted to stealing thousands of dollars from customers’ accounts and from the bank’s ATMs.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) says Roberto Garcia, a former Chase personal banker, stole approximately $12,948 from the bank while serving as an ATM custodian in Miami, Florida.

Chase discovered cash shortages at the ATMs Garcia was assigned to load cash into after performing an audit in September of 2019, according to the federal agency.

In an interview with JPMorgan Chase investigators, the OCC says Garcia later admitted to stealing $12,732 from the ATMs.

The OCC further accuses Garcia of account takeovers while working at JPMorgan Chase.

“Respondent accessed eight customer accounts and changed the phone numbers on file from the customers’ numbers to his own personal cellular phone number.

On six of the eight accounts, Respondent enrolled the customers’ debit or credit cards in his personal digital Apple Pay Wallet.”

Upon enrolling JPMorgan Chase’s customers’ credit or debit cards into his personal Apple Pay Wallet, the OCC alleges Garcia then attempted fraudulent transactions worth over $7,000. Approximately $2,473 of the fraudulent transactions were processed successfully.

“Respondent’s actions caused loss to the Bank in the amount of approximately $2,473 when the Bank reimbursed the accounts of affected customers.”

Although the OCC says Garcia has verbally admitted what he did, the agency is now asking him to file a written response to its formal accusations.

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