Top 6 Athletes who have had their identities stolen
July 8, 2009 at 4:16 pm | Identity Theft Victims | No comment
Besides celebrities, popular athletes have also succumbed to identity theft. Below are the top 6 athletes who have been victims of identity theft:
1) Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods’ identity was stolen by California resident Anthony Lemar Taylor in the late ’90s. He had managed to obtain Woods’ social security number, and went to the California Department of Motor Vehicles where he was issued an authentic license using Woods’ name. Once he had a fraudulent driver’s license, Taylor was also able to obtain credit at local Sacramento stores, and ended up with 12 lines of credit in the golfer’s name, ultimately racking up thousands of dollars worth of charges. Taylor was eventually caught and arrested.
2) Barry Bonds
Popular baseball star Barry Bonds’ identity was stolen back in 2005, when Jason Keys of Indianapolis found out his social security number and applied for a credit card. He obtained Bonds’ personal information while he was shredding personal records for a company that specialized in identity theft protection. Once Keys was found out, he was not sentenced to jail, but instead, decided to agree to the terms of a plea bargain.
3) Vontae Davis
Most recently, the Miami Dolphins player Vontae Davis experienced identity theft firsthand in June 2009. An impostor used an old license stolen from Davis months earlier as identification when he was stopped by police during a traffic stop in early June. Currently, Davis’ old license has not been recovered, and the impostor is still on the loose.
4) Danny Wuerffel
Quarterbacker Danny Wuerffel found out that he had fallen victim to identity theft when he received a phone call from a Home Depot asking if he had applied for a home-improvement loan in New Jersey. The suspect had obtained Wuerffel’s social security number, date of birth and off-season residence address, and used the information to apply for a $16,000 loan.
5) Steve Smith
Carlos Lomax, the same person who scammed actor Will Smith, also stole athlete Steve Smith’s identity. Lomax took out multiple lines of credit in the star’s name, and racked up over $80,000 worth of merchandise. Once he was caught, the suspect ended up serving two years in prison, three years’ probation and was required to pay $270,000 to the credit card companies that he frauded.
6) Ty Law
Ty Law had his identity stolen by a man named Jonathan Hoskins who obtained an Ohio driver’s license in Law’s name, and who also made $20,000 in withdrawals from his bank account. Law first discovered that his money was being stolen when he checked his bank account statements, and saw that he only had $33 in his account. Soon after, he also discovered that an unauthorized $10,000 withdrawal had been made. Hoskins was tracked down, and is now behind bars.