WSJ -- AUGUST 28, 2009
Bernanke Falls Victim to Identify Theft
By JON HILSENRATH and BRENT KENDALL
The Federal Reserve has for years issued warnings about the spread of identity theft. On Thursday, officials revealed that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke was himself a victim.
Last August, Mr. Bernanke's wife, Anna, was sitting in a Starbucks coffee shop on Capitol Hill in Washington when her purse was stolen. It contained personal checks, four credit cards and personal identification, according to a theft report first revealed by Newsweek.
A few days later, George Lee Reid allegedly walked into a Bank of America branch in Hyattsville, Md., according to a complaint filed in Washington, D.C., Superior Court. The complaint says he deposited a $900 check under the names of Mr. and Mrs. Bernanke into a third person's account and then withdrew $9,000 from that person's account, using other stolen identities.
When he spotted unusual bank transactions, Mr. Bernanke reported them to the bank. The Bernankes didn't lose any money as a result of the theft.
"Identity theft is a serious crime that affects millions of Americans each year," Mr. Bernanke said through a Fed spokesman. "Our family was but one of 500 separate instances traced to one crime ring. I am grateful for the law enforcement officers who patiently and diligently work to solve and prevent these financial crimes."
Mr. Bernanke and his wife filed a police report when the purse was stolen and alerted Wachovia and the credit-card companies.
The Fed chairman was following his own advice. In a brochure circulated by bank regulators in December, the Fed and other government agencies warned, "If you fall victim to identity theft, act immediately to protect yourself. Alert your financial institution."
Spokesmen for U.S. Special Service and U.S. Postal Inspection Service are still pursuing the case. At one point, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., Mr. Reid told detectives he made as much as $50,000 a day on the scams.
Charges in Washington against him were dropped in December. But a broader case is being pursued by U.S. attorneys.
It isn't clear where Mr. Reid is now. An arrest warrant for him is outstanding. A phone call to the home of an individual named George Reid at the address listed on the arrest warrant wasn't picked up. A phone call to Mr. Reid's court-appointed attorney wasn't returned.
The case is part of a wider identity-theft ring that began in early 2007 and continues, according to U.S. attorneys, who filed a complaint against Mr. Reid and eight other individuals in a U.S. District Court in Alexandria in June.
"The basis of the scheme was to use stolen personal identifying information, bank and bank record information, personal checks, and other access devices belonging to individual victims, to impersonate those victims at various bank branches throughout the country," the complaint said.
They group has used different approaches to stealing information, the attorneys said, from pickpockets, to stealing mail, to planting people at businesses where they might have access to personal information.
Write to Jon Hilsenrath at jon.hilsenrath@wsj.com and Brent Kendall at brent.kendall@dowjones.com