Stanley Mark Rifkin

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Stanley Mark Rifkin


Born	1946 United States

Stanley Mark Rifkin (born in 1946) is a convicted criminal in the United States responsible for stealing $10.2 million dollars through wire transfer via telephone in the autumn of 1978.

[edit] Security Pacific National Bank heist

Working for a company under contract to develop a backup system for the Security Pacific National Bank wire room, Rifkin learned of the transfer procedures used, and found that bank agents would frequently write down the daily transfer code. One day, he made his way into the transfer room, saw the code, memorized it and walked out. He then made a few phone calls and wired $10.2 million dollars to the Irving Trust Company in New York for the credit of the Wozchod Handels Bank of Zurich in Switzerland, where he'd already set up an account.

Having previously set up a diamond transaction, he picked up 43,200 carats in diamonds from a Russian agency, which he had purchased for USD 8.1 million. He flew back into the United States and began selling the diamonds, but a business associate that he was using tipped him off to the FBI. He was captured shortly after, just before midnight on November 5.