Abraham Abdallah, 32, accessed the bank accounts of over 200 people listed in Forbes magazine’s “Richest People in America” list and arranged transfers to his own accounts. Among the victims were Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Oprah Winfrey and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, although it is not yet known how much he stole.
Abdallah is thought to have e-mailed credit agencies and obtained the individual's personal details using a Yahoo! internet e-mail account accessed from a local library computer and a WAP phone. Suspicion was raised by Merrill Lynch when the bank received one of his e-mails requesting a $10 million transfer from the account of Thomas Siebel of Siebel Systems to an Australian bank account.
In a raid of Abdallah’s home, police discovered false credit cards, Social Security numbers, dates of birth and addresses of the individuals targeted, together with their mothers’ maiden names.
Abdallah, who has been arrested on numerous occasions and has spent several years in prison for crimes of dishonesty, denied any wrongdoing. He is now charged with criminal possession of forged devices, stolen property and criminal impersonation.