5 Indicted in Identity Theft Scheme That Bilked Millions From Veterans

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/21/us/military-identity-theft-scheme.html

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First, they secretly photographed the Social Security and bank account numbers of thousands of veterans and senior military members on a computer screen at a United States Army base in South Korea.

Then, they used the personal information to withdraw or reroute millions of dollars in disability benefits and other payments made to veterans. The stolen funds were later wired to the bank accounts of so-called money mules and laundered so that they could not be traced.

But they were.

That’s how a far-reaching identity theft scheme preyed on veterans, the Justice Department said on Wednesday, as it announced the indictment of five people on charges of wire fraud, conspiracy and aggravated identity theft.

“To our knowledge, this is the largest criminal case ever involving identity theft of military affiliated personnel,” John F. Bash, the United States attorney of the Western District of Texas, said during a news conference in San Antonio.

Mr. Bash said that the personal information of more than 3,000 veterans and military personnel had been compromised over a period from 2014 to 2019. Many of the victims were disabled and older, and were unlikely to access their account information online.

It was not immediately clear how many were defrauded, but Mr. Bash said the amount of money stolen was in the millions and that investigators were not yet sure that they had accounted for all of the victims.

The Justice Department and Veterans Affairs are in the process of notifying victims and trying to help them recover lost funds.

One victim was defrauded of $41,500 and another lost $18,500, according to the indictment.

“Maybe the most egregious aspect of this case is that the targets centered on disabled and elderly veterans,” Mr. Bash said. “We believe the reason for that is the co-conspirators believed that they would have the most benefits.”

The five defendants named in the indictment are Robert Wayne Boling Jr., Fredrick Brown, Trorice Crawford, Allan Albert Kerr and Jongmin Seok. All are in custody and are expected to be arraigned next week. Three are United States citizens, one is South Korean and one is Australian.

Lawyer information for the defendants was not immediately available on Wednesday night. The Justice Department did not provide ages or places of residence for those arrested. Mr. Brown was arrested in Las Vegas and Mr. Crawford was arrested in San Diego, while the three others were arrested in the Philippines.

The investigators said that Mr. Brown used his position as a civilian medical records technician at Yongsan Garrison, a United States military base in Seoul, to gain unauthorized access to the personal identifying information of veterans and senior military personnel.

Mr. Brown, who worked at the base from 2010 to 2015, then sent the information to Mr. Boling, a friend and the mastermind of the fraud plot, according to the 14-count indictment. Mr. Boling used the personal information to log into a benefits portal, which gave him access to an eBenefits website used by the Department of Veterans Affairs and by the Defense Department. The website’s server is in San Antonio, which pulled Mr. Bash’s office into the investigation.

Mr. Boling asked Mr. Brown at one point if the military had caught on to him stealing personal information, asking if he had been “popped red handed snappin shots at the gig,” the indictment said.

In one example cited in the indictment, the defendants gained unauthorized access in March 2017 to the eBenefits account of a retired Army major who had been a prisoner of war and is disabled. They changed the bank account and routing numbers to an American Express debit card account that they controlled and stole $2,915, the indictment said.

The indictment did not name any of the victims, listing each by their initials and military branch. Those mentioned served in the Army, Navy and Air Force.

“Indeed, the defendants, to borrow their own words, saw big money in seeking to defraud disabled veterans,” David Morrell, a deputy assistant attorney general with the Justice Department, said at the news conference.