Even one of the world's richest men was unable to prevent a case of identity theft. In this case it was Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, who got hit with the crime thanks to a man who managed to gain access to one of Allen's bank accounts.
The Associated Press, via USAToday.com, reports that this week the criminal complaint was unsealed. The complaint revealed that Brandon Lee Price, a deserter from the US Army, contacted Citibank in January and managed to get the bank to change the address of an account owned by Allen from Seattle to Pittsburgh. The article doesn't state how Price knew about Allen's account or how he convinced the bank to change the address.
A few days later, Price called Citibank again. This time he claimed that he had lost the debit card on that same account owned by Allen and got the bank to send him a new card to the Pittsburgh address. He apparently used the card to pay a loan and also used it for an attempted $15,000 Western Union money transfer; Price also tried to purchase items at a dollar store and a video game store.
Price was later arrested by federal authorities on March 2. A spokesperson for Allen said that Citibank became aware of the identity theft and that only the loan money Price made with the debit card went through.
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