Organize identity theft cases by the number of victims or amount of money stolen, and the crime committed by Ben Achampong would rank pretty low.
Organize identity thieves according to how appalling their crimes are, and Ben Achampong ranks right up at the top.
Achampong was arrested last week and accused of stealing $20,000 using the identities of two deceased men who had been residents at Community Mainstreaming Associates, a Glen Cove facility for adults with Down Syndrome and Alzheimer Disease.
Achampong’s position as facility manager at the complex gave him access to residents’ names, Social Security numbers, birthdates and financial information.
According to Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, Achampong used that information to clean out the bank account of a resident who died in June 2008. He then used the money to pay his rent, car insurance, credit card and cell phone bills.
In February 2009, he used the same man’s name to obtain a debit card.
He’s also accused of filing fraudulent tax returns using the information of another deceased resident.
“Mr. Achampong’s exploitation of a deceased person under his care is ghastly,” Rice said.
We’re all vulnerable to identity theft, but children, the elderly and the disabled can do nothing to protect themselves from identity thieves. Visit LifeLock.com to see how they’re helping to protect their nearly 1.5 million customers, and what they can do to help you.
4 Comments
Every funeral home in the country should be required to tell family what to do after someone dies so this never happens again.
Another story about stealing dead people’s identities. Wow. It’s a sick, sick world. What’s that, Mother? Yes, Mother.
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Tho it’s very sad, this is the best information i have found about how vulnerable disabled and elderly are to ID theft. Keep going Thank you