Credit Union scam investigation leads to the arrest of two fraud suspects
Authorities arrested two people in June following a fraud investigation involving the theft of more than $5,000.
According to court documents, Jonathan Faircloth, 23, of Bellingham allegedly made a phone call to a woman March 29, claiming he was with the fraud department of Industrial Credit Union (ICU). The woman gave Faircloth her login information via text message, and Faircloth allegedly used the information to transfer $3,700 from her account into his own.
On March 31, Faircloth called a man, again claiming to be with the ICU fraud department. Faircloth later called ICU pretending to be the man and transferred $5,000 from the man’s account to that of his fiancée, Nyssa March-Walker. Two other online transfers were made from the man’s account to March-Walker for a total of $4,987, according to court records.
Security footage of the State Street ICU shows Faircloth opening an ICU account on March 25. March-Walker opened another account at the same branch on March 26, according to court records. Both of them provided ID in order to open the account. There was no other money in the accounts until after the late-March transfers, according to court records.
Industrial Credit Union reimbursed the two people targeted by the scam. ICU advises people who are unsure whether a call is legitimate to request the caller’s name, title and the business or department they claim to be representing, according to the ICU website. Then look up the company phone number and call them directly.
Faircloth was arrested June 2 by deputies with the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office. He has been charged with first-degree theft, a class B felony. He was also charged with two counts of second-degree theft and criminal impersonation in the first degree, also class B felonies.
Faircloth was also arrested and charged with two other felonies when police contacted him June 2. He has been charged with attempting to elude a police vehicle for a March 22 incident and with hit and run with an injury, a class C felony related to a March 24 incident. He also has been charged with two counts of second-degree driving with a suspended license, a gross misdemeanor.
March-Walker was arrested June 29 after visiting Faircloth in jail. She has since been charged with first-degree theft, a class B felony.
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