Nearly two dozen people were swept up in raids across Rockland County this morning.

The 22 people arrested this morning are accused of being part of a sophisticated scheme that netted nearly $500,000 by passing fraudulent postal money orders and checks.

Rockland County District Attorney Tom Zugibe says it was organized by members connected to the M-Block Crew gang, a set of the Bloods gang.

According to the charges, one of the schemes was to defraud more than a dozen banks by purchasing U.S. Postal money orders in small denominations, usually $1 to $3, and altering them to appear as larger denominations, typically from $850 to $1,000 per money order. The fraudulent money orders or checks would then be deposited into active bank accounts, usually at ATMs. The money was then withdrawn before the banks could learn that the money orders or checks were fraudulent.

Zugibe said these particular schemes are likely associated with a multimillion-dollar trend in money order fraud that is sweeping the nation.

The defendants are charged with numerous counts of felony grand larceny, criminal possession of forged instruments and bank fraud.