Former Bank Employee Who Targeted Elderly Victims in Identity Theft and Fraud Scheme Sentenced to a Decade in Prison

CLEVELAND – A Chinese national has been sentenced to prison for using his role as a bank employee to access confidential client information to target elderly customers and create a scheme to steal their money. Yue Cao, 36, was sentenced to 120 months (10 years) in prison by J. Philip Calabrese after a federal jury convicted him in February of 10 counts of Bank Fraud, four counts of Aggravated Identity Theft, and one count of Money Laundering. He was also ordered to serve five years of supervised release after imprisonment.

According to evidence presented before the jury, Cao was a quant analytics manager at an Ohio-based bank who was hired to help protect customers from fraud. He instead used his access to steal the identities and money of elderly customers who had not enrolled in the bank’s online services. He used an offshore service to create email addresses in the names of more than 100 victims. Then, he used these emails to enroll the victims in online banking—all without their knowledge or authorization. Additionally, Cao directed the victims’ bank statements and other notifications to the email addresses he created. Because he controlled their online banking, he transferred the victims’ money directly to his personal bank and credit card accounts. He also used the victims’ identities to open bank accounts in their names without their knowledge and transferred their money into them. Some of these were brokerage accounts, where he then engaged in options trading using their money. The victims targeted by Cao’s scheme resided in the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Washington, and Ohio (Canton in Stark County ) and ranged in age from 90-103 years old at the time that Cao secretly enrolled them in online banking. In total, he conducted approximately $2 million in unauthorized transfers using his control of the victims’ accounts. This case was investigated by the FBI Cleveland Division.

Assistant United States Attorneys Edward D. Brydle and Michael L. Collyer led the prosecution for the Northern District of Ohio.