Bank Hit by Wire Fraud

A Vermont bank official confirmed Thursday that his bank has been swindled in a nationwide wire fraud scheme allegedly orchestrated by an escaped convict in the Los Angeles area.

John Ewing, executive vice president of the Bank of Vermont, said the scam, which reportedly netted about $400,000, was being investigated by the FBI.

The suspect, Tanya Marie Smith, 28, was serving a 13-year sentence for bank wire fraud when she escaped from prison in Alderson, W. Va., last January, officials said.

FBI agent John Markey said Smith, who is suspected of running the scam from Southern California, attempted 56 fraudulent transfers nationwide, half of them successful.

The $400,000 reportedly was electronically transferred out of the Bank of Vermont to an unauthorized person, who obtained numbers to large accounts and had the money wired to California. Millions of dollars move electronically between banks over a computer network every day. Security codes prevent fraud, but in this case the Bank of Vermont reportedly did not have the necessary controls on its wire transfer system.