Posted on 06/29/2018 10:05:12 PM PDT by ATOMIC_PUNK
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin supercentenarian and the nation's oldest living man, Richard Overton, is the victim of identity theft that left his bank account empty, family says.
Someone used his account to purchase savings bonds with Treasury Direct, Richard's cousin Volma Overton Jr. said. He added that the purchases had been happening for a "couple of months."
"It's a shock, it hurts, it hurts tremendously," he said.
Volma discovered the account discrepancy when he deposited money into Richard's personal account, then went to the bank to check the balance. All that was in there was the money he had just deposited.
"I looked at it — what the hell are these debits?" Volma recalled thinking when a bank employee pulled up the statement showing the money went to Treasury Direct. He said the bank has been very helpful and that he's also sent a letter to Treasury Direct.
"I don't know how they got his social security number and his personal checking account number but those things they have," he said.
It's not hard to find Richard's name, birthday or even address online. The 112-year-old WWII veteran is a staple of Austin (in fact, his house with party decorations can be seen on Google Maps), and he recently celebrated a birthday in March.
"We wanted to put word out about them using his name with stolen ID," Volma said. "It might help others realize how vulnerable we all are to this."
Volma says the family is not sure who's behind this crime.
"My mind goes up and down the gamut from A to Z of who it could be, but it could be someone in a foreign country," he said.
When asked his thoughts on the potential of it being someone close to Richard, he said, "It'd be terrible to know somebody who's been that close to him has used him like that."
Volma didn't specify how much money was in Richard's account, but he said it was a "considerable amount."
This account is a personal one and is separate from the GoFundMe the family uses to help pay for Richard's care. At $480 per day and nearly $15,000 per month, his round-the-clock care requires consistent fundraising.
The family notified the police on Thursday afternoon. The Austin Police Department says they're working closely with the Overton family on this matter.
“Volma didn’t specify how much money was in Richard’s account, but he said it was a “considerable amount.”
This account is a personal one and is separate from the GoFundMe the family uses to help pay for Richard’s care.”
I don’t know about anybody else, but if I found out that I had been donating money, albeit to a good use, and found out the guy had a few million in his account, I’d be thinking “how stupid could I be”.
“Considerable” is relative. It’s like blood: a little goes a long way, especially if it’s yours.
HMMMMM maybe better check the Family
My first thought...
I have email alerts for every transaction that occurs, whether it’s from my bank, brokerage, debit card, whatever.
You get them within seconds of the transaction.
I would expect this old gentleman to have a court appointed conservator for financial and possibly medical needs too.
It doesn’t sound like there was anyone closely watching the monthly bank statements besides the veteran himself.
It’s a disturbing notion that this 100 + y/o man ‘requires’
ongoing fundraising to meet his basic needs. How is that happening with Medicare, Veteran’s health insurance and other programs widely available for people just like him?
Cases of identity theft like this are covered by the banks/FDIC.
It sounds like he is in long term care in a nursing home.Medicare doesn’t cover that.There is a vereran benefit he is eligible for that would pay about $3000 a month. He may already be receiving that
I would be looking at the hired care givers. There is a lot of that going on.
BE AWARE OF THE LATEST SCAM: a FReeper posted his wife’s SS/disability check hadn’t arrived.
When he inquired he was told hers and “many others” addresses had been changed.
The checks were now going to a Central America address.
Badly written story. If someone used this man’s money to purchase “savings bonds”, then if they are US Govt bonds, they cannot be cashed. They would be “frozen” by the Treasury.
However, the writer, the pisspoor one, didn’t tell us who “Treasury Direct” is, who runs its, and how it runs.
That would be the professional way to right a story.
I’ll give you a personal/professional example (modifying some names, etc because it is an ongoing project).
I have been helping an Indian tribe’s leader try to find millions of dollars worth of still outstanding “Railroad Bonds”.
We managed to find documents in the National Archives which not only listed those bonds but also the amount they would be worth at the end of their investment life, but also the years.
However, in order to “cash” in those bonds at a special US Treasury office, you have to have the “actual bond” in your hands. So far we have not been able to find them, but I think we will. The tribe could use the money for education, etc.
However, finding official government documentation that the bonds (as known) existed and were “cashable” makes the effort both legitimate and interesting.
I don’t get what happened.
It’s impossible to anonymously buy, sell, or hold U.S. Treasury debt.
If the “thief” tried to set up two accounts - one for funding purchases, and a second one to receive interest or asset sales - that would instantly set off flashing red lights at Treasury Direct.
It's like an online brokerage firm, except you buy various kinds of U.S. Government debt, like 6 Month Treasury Bills.
If you are a small investor - under $100,000 - there are usually no fees involved.
The only way someone could “steal” your Treasury Direct investments would be to send your interest and your principal payments to a second account that also has your name on it, and then fraudulently withdraw that money.
In my opinion, that's impossible to do without getting caught.
Saving bonds must be held for a year before they can be cashed, so the money should still be recoverable. They don't issue paper bonds so the money must still be inside TD. This should be pretty easy to cancel the bonds and return the money.
Also when I set up a Treasury Direct account it required more ID verification than any other account. I even had to get a bank official to use the bank's medallion stamp to set up bank transfers. That's a step above a mere notary stamp. It may have changed since then, but it was a pain in the butt when I did it.
No, the FDIC does not insure against theft like this.
Banks don’t, either, but may donate dollars if it looks like a good PR move.
$480 a day is only $20 an hour for 24 hours.
It seems like a lot, but 24 hour care costs so much because it is so many hours.
SS hasn’t used paper checks in along time direct deposits.
The last story I saw on this lovely gentleman was of him doing well out on his porch smoking his daily cigar, which was what made the story so dear. Unless something drastically changed, it cannot cost $15,000 per month to sustain him.
Someone in the family is dirty.
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