A Mexican national who had previously been deported is now in U.S. federal custody on charges of bank fraud.
Federal documents indicate Antonio Campo-Gamez would open bank accounts at various banks and then cash checks before bank officials realized his accounts had insufficient funds.
Campo-Gamez was residing in Harlingen and had been previously deported. During a post-Miranda interview with investigators, he told authorities he “fraudulently obtained approximately $3,000 to $5,000 per bank account,” according to a federal criminal complaint.
Authorities allege he controlled about 45 bank accounts.
The banks allegedly defrauded include IBC Bank, Bank of America, Chase Bank, First Community Bank of Texas, Lonestar National Bank, Security First Federal Credit Union, Texas Regional Bank and Wells Fargo Bank, a federal criminal complaint indicates.
Campo-Gamez appeared Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Ronald G. Morgan, who ordered he be held without bond. His next court appearance is scheduled for July 18.
On June 22, IBC Bank reported fraudulent activity in multiple bank accounts.
“IBC Bank discovered that worthless checks were being deposited into various accounts and that the money was withdrawn from these accounts prior to the bank receiving notification that there were insufficient funds to cover the amount of the check,” the federal criminal complaint states.
Homeland Security Investigation agents reviewed video footage that showed Campo-Gamez and others deposit the “worthless checks into the bank accounts and subsequently withdrawing money from the accounts,” according to the criminal complaint.
The HSI agents followed Campo-Gamez from his residence to an IBC Bank branch in Harlingen and watched him make a financial transaction, the federal criminal complaint states.
Shortly after, investigators with the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office conducted a traffic stop on Campo-Gamez’s vehicle, the federal criminal complaint states. During a search of the vehicle, agents found multiple ATM recipients, bank documents and debit cards issued in the name of other individuals, the federal criminal complaint states.
Campo-Gamez told authorities he recruited several other people to open bank accounts at various banks and that he would give them $50 per bank account, according to the federal criminal complaint.
“Upon successfully stealing the money from the banks, Campo-Gamez would then pay those individuals approximately twenty (20) percent of the money obtained fraudulently from the account,” the criminal complaint alleges.
The federal criminal complaint also stated that record and fingerprints checks with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement revealed that Campo-Gamez is a citizen of Mexico and was previously deported from the United States on Aug. 3, 2011.
