Kansas City, MO – Briauna L. Adams, 28, of Kansas City, has been charged in federal court for allegedly using stolen identities to deposit fraudulent U.S. Treasury checks totaling more than $1.9 million into her personal bank accounts, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri announced today.
Adams faces a seven-count criminal complaint filed November 13, 2024, in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City. She was arrested today and is currently in federal custody following her initial court appearance, pending a detention hearing.
According to an affidavit supporting the criminal complaint, Adams used a stolen identity to open a bank account on March 12, 2024. Within two hours of opening the account, Adams allegedly deposited a fraudulent U.S. Treasury check worth $10,590. However, the bank flagged the check as suspicious, preventing the deposit from being credited. A Louisiana woman later informed authorities that she had been expecting the check from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and had recently become a victim of identity theft.
The scheme escalated when, on June 18, 2024, Adams deposited another fraudulent Treasury check for $450,504 into an investment account she had recently opened. While the bank placed a 10-day hold on the deposit, part of the funds was accessible for “good faith” investments. Adams reportedly transferred $12,000 of the funds to two of her personal bank accounts. Hours after these transfers, the bank discovered that the check was fraudulent and reversed the transactions, leaving Adams’s account with a negative balance and causing a financial loss to the bank.
Investigators traced the IP addresses used to access Adams’s accounts, linking her to a stolen Texas woman’s driver’s license used to rent an apartment in Kansas City. However, Adams allegedly failed to pay more than $14,000 in rent, vacating the apartment in July 2024.
On August 15, 2024, Adams deposited another fraudulent U.S. Treasury check for $1,445,443 into a different investment account with another firm. The firm’s fraud investigators quickly identified the check as fake and reversed the deposit before the funds were processed. Investigators also discovered that Adams used the stolen identity of a second Texas woman, including her driver’s license, to rent a townhouse in Raymore, Missouri.
Adams has been charged with bank fraud, identity theft, and conspiracy related to her involvement in this widespread scheme. The federal authorities are continuing their investigation and believe that Adams may have been involved in other similar fraudulent activities.
Adams is scheduled for a detention hearing to determine whether she will remain in federal custody pending trial. If convicted, she faces significant federal prison time and substantial restitution payments to compensate the victims of her fraud scheme.
