A soldier on the Army's Absent Without Leave was arrested for attempting to use billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's bank account to make over $15,000 in purchases, as reported by the Associated Press.
Federal investigators allege that Brandon Lee Price changed the address of Allen's account and then had a debit card sent to his Pittsburgh home so he could use it for payments on a delinquent Armed Forces Bank account and personal expenses.
From AP:
Price called Citibank in January and changed the address on an account held by Allen from Seattle to Pittsburgh, then called back three days later to say he had lost his debit card and asked for a new one to be sent to him, an FBI investigator wrote in a criminal complaint filed in February.
The card was used to attempt a $15,000 Western Union transaction and make a $658.81 payment on the Armed Forces Bank loan account the day it was activated, according to the complaint. Surveillance footage also captured him attempting purchases at a video game store and a dollar store, authorities alleged.
Citibank alerted police after detecting the identity theft. The only transaction that apparently made it through was the loan payment, according to a spokesman for Allen.
Price was arrested arrested March 2 and ordered detained until April 2 unless the Army takes him into custody (because he is wanted as a deserter).
The complaint doesn't specify how Price allegedly changed the address on the account.
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