RENO, Nev. – A Reno resident made his initial appearance in federal court Thursday for allegedly engaging in a $3.5 million fraud scheme involving over 8,000 fraudulent PayPal credit accounts, bank accounts, and prepaid credit and debit card accounts he created with stolen identities.

Kenneth Gilbert Gibson, 46, was indicted on 10 counts of wire fraud; three counts of mail fraud; 10 counts of bank fraud; six counts of access device fraud; and six counts of aggravated identity theft.

According to allegations made in the indictment, between 2012 and 2017, Gibson allegedly obtained the identities of multiple victims and used those victim’s identities to open unauthorized online accounts, credit accounts, bank accounts, and prepaid debit and credit card accounts to obtain money and property. In total, he allegedly opened over 8,000 fraudulent and unauthorized accounts with PayPal, an online payment company, using the stolen identities. He then allegedly used those fraudulent and unauthorized accounts to transfer, deposit, and send approximately $3.5 million to himself via hard copy checks and through electronic transactions to approximately 500 bank accounts and pre-paid debit cards owned and under his control.

If convicted, the defendant faces a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the wire fraud and mail fraud counts; a statutory maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine for the bank fraud counts; a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the access device fraud counts; and a statutory maximum penalty of two years in prison for the aggravated identity theft counts. The defendant also faces a period of supervised release and a criminal forfeiture money judgment.

The case is being jointly investigated by a Task Force consisting of the FBI, United States Secret Service, IRS, United States Postal Inspection Service, and the Reno Police Department.

If you believe you are a victim of the alleged fraud, phone the FBI at 1-866-4FBIOVA (1-866-432-4682), email RenoIDTheft@fbi.gov (link sends e-mail), or visit https://forms.fbi.gov/RenoIDTheft.

You can report identity theft to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) online at http://www.identitytheft.gov or by phone at 1-877-438-4338. For identity theft prevention tips and free resources visit http://www.ftc.gov/idtheft.   back...