A fraudster named Gerald Barnbaum lost his pharmacist license after committing Medicaid fraud. He got his credentials after stealing the identity of Dr. Gerald Barnes and went on to practice medicine under his name. A type 1 diabetic died under his care. And what’s even more astonishing is that “Dr. Barnes” even worked as a staff physician for a center that gave exams to FBI agents. He is currently serving hard time.
A man named Mark Tufano got his little joy ride by impersonating famed actors like Gary Oldman. In this identity theft example Tufano sent a video of himself as Gary Oldman portraying Andy Kaufman. And what’s even more surprising is that it actually fooled the man who wanted Oldman to portray Kaufman in Man On The Moon. The real Gary Oldman caught wind of the scam and got it busted.
Drug smuggler Marcelo Nascimento da Rocha impersonated Henrique Constantino, the brother of the CEO of Gol Airlines. He enjoyed the jet-set high life but then he got busted after sleeping with a woman who actually knew the real Constantino. Talk about identity theft examples, I think this one is hard to beat. Not sure? Let's read on.
Keep an eye on your wallet! The likes of Andrea Harris-Frazier had better not get their hands on YOUR wallet. When Margot Somerville lost her wallet on a trolley, two years later she was arrested. Andrea Harris-Frazier had defrauded several banks—using Somerville’s identity—out of tens of thousands of dollars. The real crook was caught.
Watch out for the innocent looking roommate
Brittany Ossenfort got a new roommate, Michelle, who got a haircut just like Ossenfort’s. One day Ossenfort received a call at her office from the cops asking her to bail herself out of jail. As it happens, “Michelle” had been hooking on the streets, literally posing as Ossenfort and was caught. What’s even more shocking is that it turns out “Michelle” was really Richard Lester Phillips, living as a woman.
Lara Love and David Jackson were a California couple who one day began tapping into a neighbor’s wireless Internet router. This led to them raiding the neighbors’ personal data. By the time this pair were busted, thirty victims had been affected.
Frederic Bourdin liked to impersonate missing children, including Nicholas Barclay, a missing teen. And he practically fooled the teen’s family, despite Bourdin looking nothing like Barclay (including different hair and eye color—amazing, isn’t it?). More stunning is that the family was fooled for nearly a year until fingerprints proved his real identity. He’s been in and out of jail since.
Ferdinand Demara was a daring serial imposter who used medical books to fudge his way through surgeries he performed onboard a ship during the Korean War… by impersonating Dr. Joseph Cyr. Prior to this caper, he had faked his own death and even went AWOL under a friend’s name when in the Army. Some of these identity theft examples are so elaborate, they'd spice up the plot to a bestselling novel any day of the week.
According to authorities, busboy Abraham Abdallah pulled off a massive identity theft and ripped off some of the richest people in America, including Steven Spielberg. Armed with basic information about the wealthiest people in the U.S. from Forbes Magazine, Abdallah allegedly used computers in Brooklyn libraries to get detailed confidential information about 200 of those listed. Then, posing as his victims, he tried get money from their brokerage or investment bank accounts. Read the full report on this stunning scam here.
Phillip Cummings, a fat cat who worked for a software company, sold customers’ credit card reports to a Nigerian ID theft ring for $30 each—30,000 times. That’s an unbelievable $900,000 in illegal earnings. You wanted identity theft examples? Well there you have it!
Seriously?! Really, get identity theft protection!
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