Oct. 13, 2006 — A St. Croix resident hacked into a V.I. government's Banco Popular bank account to make off with more than $500,000, Finance Commissioner Bernice Turnbull said Friday. "I am appalled," she said, then adding, "I'm surprised."
According to Turnbull's estimation, banking isn't as safe as it used to be.
She had no other details about the hacker but said the matter now rested with the U.S. Justice Department because wire fraud was involved.
Justice Department spokesman James Carroll said the department had no comment on the matter.
Turnbull said the hacker made several forays into the government's account at Banco Popular during June, July and August.
She said the Finance Department discovered the problem while reconciling its account; but just as the department was contacting Banco Popular, the bank contacted them.
Turnbull said the money came from the government's special and other funds account used to pay vendors.
She said the government collected about $300,000 of the money from Banco Popular. She expects the bank to refund more of the money.
Banco Popular Senior Vice President Valentino McBean could not be reached for comment.
Turnbull said that the new governmentwide financial system — V.I. Integrated System, which came online Oct. 1 — will provide more safeguards than the old system.
However, no system is foolproof; and Turnbull said the only way to tell if there's a problem is through frequent reconciliation. She said the government does reconciliation every month, adding that it sometimes takes more than a month to get it done because of the size of the task.
Turnbull said there's a lesson here for all people who bank using the Internet: "Reconcile every month."
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