A Gwinnett County small business owner targeted in a racketeering scheme says he’s relieved the alleged thieves were not able to get away with the $250,000 police say they tried to steal.
A man impersonating John Ramirez, co-owner of Progressive Recycling in Norcross, allegedly attempted to withdraw $250,000 from Ramirez’s business account at a Bank of America on Peachtree Parkway last May, according to Gwinnett County Police.
The transfer was stopped before it hit the suspect’s account.
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“[It was] because we found out, not the bank,” Ramirez told Channel 2 Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson . “The bank didn’t know anything.”
The suspect, identified now as Carlos Garcia, approached a bank teller and claimed to be Ramirez, using what police say was a fake ID.
Garcia and another man were able to get in and out of the bank within seven minutes, Ramirez says.
They left the bank thinking they had successfully transferred the money out of Ramirez’s company’s account and into their own.