Mobile Banking Used To Steal Thousands From OKC Business

Mobile banking is supposed to make our lives easier, but for a local businessman it seems to have allowed a former employee to steal thousands of dollars from him. 

He says the employee used mobile banking to deposit the same check over and over again.

"You don't have to have a gun to rob a bank, just a mobile phone and take a picture of your checks," said an exasperated Jimmy Paris.

According to Paris, the owner of Paris Limo, it was just that easy for a former driver to steal over $15,000 since the beginning of the year.

"We noticed there was a problem with our payroll account, but we couldn't figure out what was going on," said Paris.

After Paris started taking a close look at the account, he realized the employee was cashing each payroll check two or three times.

This is how Paris believes it happened: The employee had at least two different bank accounts. He would use mobile banking to deposit the same paycheck in each account, then cash the actual check at yet another bank. Paris says the account is strictly for payroll and they put enough money in there to cover what is going out, but didn't reconcile it every month. However, that's not a mistake he'll make again, and he wants to make sure no one else does either.

"Protect yourself, check your bank accounts consistently each month and make sure whatever checks are written don't go through more than once,"

A spokesperson for the Oklahoma Banking Commission says there are warranties in place to protect the customer. But you have to let your bank know in a timely fashion what is happening and that's why you need to review you bank statements and keep a close eye on your account. 

Mobile banking is regulated under federal law, so this employee could face federal bank fraud charges for the crime.