[naviga:img class="img-responsive" src="/Assets/news2018/0802DayMartinez.JPG" alt="Angel B. Martinez"/]

Angel B. Martinez

East Lyme — Police charged a New York man Wednesday with using a fake identification to access a fraudulently opened Bank of America account, a phenomenon police have seen throughout the Northeast.

Police said Angel B. Martinez, 23, of Bronx, N.Y., attempted to withdraw a “large sum of cash” with an ID card that wasn’t his. Tellers, aware of the large-scale scam, notified police, who arrested Martinez at the 25 Pennsylvania Ave. bank about 10:30 a.m.

Chief Michael Finkelstein said police are working to figure out the steps involved but it appears the scammers move money from real accounts into the fraudulently opened accounts, then withdraw the money.

Finkelstein said it’s not yet clear how those involved are fraudulently opening accounts.

“We think (Martinez) is part of a much larger ring,” said Finkelstein, who said departments throughout Connecticut and the Northeast have reported similar incidents. “Luckily for us, the staff (in Niantic) were aware and observant and we were able to get there immediately.”

Finkelstein said his department is working with several others to determine the scope of the problem.

“People are constantly looking for new ways to scam and steal money, and this is part of that,” he said. “While it happened in East Lyme, this is much larger than East Lyme and southeastern Connecticut. Think about it: Why is someone from the Bronx driving to Niantic to go to the bank?”

Martinez, who posted a $100,000 bond overnight, was charged with first-degree larceny, ID theft, criminal impersonation and two counts of second-degree forgery. He is due in New London Superior Court Aug. 10.

Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact Detective Mark Comeau at (860) 739-5900.