CLOSTER, N.J. (1010 WINS) -- A 50-year-old woman is accused of using a PayPal account to steal $540,000 from her employer over a 6-year-period, the U.S. Attorney's Office for New Jersey said.
According to a federal complaint, Melissa Corso instructed customers of her former employers, which developed software and hardware technologies for video surveillance, to submit payments through a PayPal account linked to her work email address, home address, and phone number.
The company, which was based in Delaware but had a New Jersey office was not named in the complaint.
Corso's husband and another employee helped her but neither was named in the complaint.
Documents state that between February 2013 and July 2019, the company's customers made approximately 1,150 payments to the PayPay account totaling about $3.1 million.
Corso then took part of the money in the PayPal accounts and used it to buy numerous goods and services from eBay, Bloomingdale's, Best Buy, Dick's Sporting Goods, GrubHub, Forever 21, Louis Vuitton, MAC Cosmetics and Target, documents added.
Prosecutors allege that Corso covered up the movement of the money by altering the company's internal records.
Corso was arrested Friday in Connecticut and charged with two counts of wire fraud.
If convicted, each count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.
Corso is next scheduled for a hearing in federal court in Newark on Wednesday, according to court documents.
