Billionaire Scammed Out of $1.5 Million Tax Refund by Identity Thief
Written on August 4, 2010 – 8:47 am | by Jasmine Haller
Many believe that the extremely wealthy are often shielded from many of life’s challenges — including being the victim of fraud. The reality is that this is often furthest from the truth (not that we know what it is like first-hand), and the wealthy often have a great big target on their backs for thieves. Why? Well, the bad guys can aim high and get a much larger financial return on their efforts.
Yesterday afternoon, it was announced that billionaire Donald Bren became the victim of an identity theft scam where a man stole Bren’s $1.4 million tax-refund check and set up bank accounts in his name earlier this year. Federal documents show the man deposited the refund check into one of the accounts, and then transferred the money out.
Bren is chairman of the Irvine Co., a private real estate company with an investment portfolio with more than 85 million square feet in Southern California. Bren’s reported net worth is $12 billion. He is also ranked the 45th wealthiest person in the world by Forbes Magazine.
Similar Posts:
- Small Business Tax Scams
- Criminal Hackers Steal Victims Home
- Thieves Hit Real Estate Open Houses
- $3 Million Dollar Identity Theft Scheme
- Identity Theft of the Deceased? Steps You Can Take to Prevent Identity Theft of Deceased Family
