Fredrick Brown, a former U.S. Army contractor, confessed to his participation in a scheme that targeted thousands of U.S. service members and veterans and resulted in millions of dollars in damages.
According to an indictment released in August 2019, Brown was one of five scammers accused of committing identity theft and fraud, targeting “service members (active duty, reserve component, and National Guard) and veterans, and their families in addition to civilians hired by the Department of Defense.”
Brown eventually admitted in October 2019 to stealing thousands of service members’ personal identifying information (PII) between July 2014 – September 2015, including their names, DOD ID numbers, social security numbers, contact details, dates of birth, and other information.
He took screenshots of his screen while signed in to his Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application account to get the PII. This kind of theft of personally identifiable information may have severe consequences for military personnel, veterans, and their families.
Brown gave co-defendant Robert Wayne Boling Jr. the stolen information. Boling and other members of the international fraud network exploited that information to create and breach Defense Self-Service Logon accounts of military personnel.
This led the conspiring member to access the U.S. military community benefits information via the Department of Defense site, allowing him to steal millions of dollars from veterans’ pension and disability benefits payments, as well as bank accounts of U.S. military personnel.
At least eight (8) general officers were among the victims, and several disabled veterans were also targeted because they received more service-related benefits.
The defendants also used a variety of bank accounts and money transfers for financial activities to hide and disburse the robbed funds.
Multiple counts of conspiracy, aggravated identity theft, and wire fraud were filed against Brown and his co-defendants.
Brown was sentenced to 151 months in prison and was also obliged to pay $2,331,639.85 in damages. He will also be kept on supervised release for three years following his release.
