Yes. The guy lives in quite the mansion. He must have millions stashed away.
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.
What veteran’s benefit is that? I am a female veteran who was on active duty for 3 years and I keep getting material in the mail about benefits but every time I check into it, I am due nothing in the way of benefits according to the VA.
Yes. The guy lives in quite the mansion. He must have millions stashed away.
Ok, I should have specified. It is for WWII and Korean war vets ( not sure if Vietnam vets qualify ). Just applied for it for my father back in January. Hasn’t been approved yet( expecting answer this month ), but the good thing is the benefits start from when you applied. There are some qualifiers such as total assets of the applicant and the monthly expenses and what they are for.
You are correct. There are 3 eight hour shifts per day, filled by LVNs, or equivalent, at $20/hr. It adds up very quickly. We’re talking $175K/yr.
Family ? Equifax ?
You’d be surprised.
Some very wealthy people are really... frugal... shall we say?
I’m confused here. My understanding of basic needs includes medical, food, shelter and clothing. Medicare and veterans health insurance (whatever that is) will only take care of the medical part.
Unless the customer is negligent in failing to review his bank statement, the bank assumes the risk of loss from fraudulent transactions.
It hasn’t changed.
Depends as to the bank. Absolutely not as to the FDIC.
With regard to the bank, there is a diligence requirement - no liability if the problem wasn't spotted and reported within a reasonable time.
Now, if so much was stolen from the bank that the bank fails, then the FDIC could end up with residual liability post failure. It would depend on the closing transaction used. And of course, the size of the account.
$2 BILLION for 1 drug. Medicare spent $2 billion for one drug as the manufacturer paid doctors
millionshttps://www.cnn.com/2018/06/29/health/acthar-mallinckrodt-medicare-claims-doctor-payments/index.html
My brother calls it ‘The Medical Merry-Go-Round”.
Doctors office, VA, telephone scam, pick one.
They eliminated the annual fee for everybody when they stopped letting you run your account by mail, and forced you to do it online.
Their internet security seems to be very good.
Note that the money wasn't stolen from a Treasury Direct account. The money was stolen from the old guy's bank account and transferred to the thief's Treasury Direct account.
Re: “Note that the money wasn’t stolen from a Treasury Direct account. The money was stolen from the old guy’s bank account and transferred to the thief’s Treasury Direct account.”
The article says the debits to the old man’s account went to Treasury Direct.
Treasury Direct is not going to accept purchase money from one bank account - the old man’s account - and then send the interest and assign ownership to a different name in a different account.
Perhaps the article is just written poorly.
It’s possible that someone with access to the bank account purchased Savings Bonds in the old man’s name.
That would drain the old man’s bank account of all his cash, but he would still own the Savings Bonds, which, as I recall, pay no interest until they come due.
So, if the old guy needs cash right now, that’s a big problem, because he will need to sell the Savings Bonds, which will include penalties for early redemption.
Correct. The point I wanted to make was, the thief did not hack a valid Treasury Direct account (apparently the old guy did not have one before this). The thief got access to the old guy's bank account, and used that as the source of money for a Treasury Direct account.
There are a lot of possible scenarios as to how the thief did it. As you say, the thief might've set up the Treasury Direct account in the old guy's name.
Another possibility is that the thief was a close family member or caregiver who was able to add his own name to the old guy's bank account as a joint account holder, and then set up the Treasury Direct account in the thief's name. It is allowed (or was unless they changed it!) to have a Treasury Direct account in the name of only one of the joint account holders of the bank account which is linked to the Treasury Direct account.
The bottom line for me personally to the story is, this does not seem to have been a security breach to an existing valid Treasury Direct account.
Re: “There are a lot of possible scenarios as to how the thief did it.”
True, but every one of those scenarios ends with an arrest warrant and a felony conviction.
My point is - how can the thief cash out his winnings without getting caught?
There would have to be incomprehensible negligence by the bank, by Treasury Direct, or both.
Just to answer that specific question (it entails a lot of other questions as well!):
If the Treasury Direct account is in the thief's name, he can change the bank account info on the Treasury Direct account. So as soon as the old guy's money is transferred to Treasury Direct (however the thief managed that), the thief changes the bank account info to his own account.
Then the thief hopes that no one notices before the Treasury bill/bond matures into the thief's account. Once the money's in the thief's bank account, he disappears with the loot (however they do that!).
But to have the best chance of success, it'd be better to purchase short-term T-Bills, rather than savings bonds. Maybe the article misstated that part.
#26. Did you steal Peter Seller’s “line” from ‘The Pink Panther’ or was it just a coincidence re “people are really frugal..?”
Never heard it before.
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