Insurance Agent Stole 54 Philadelphians' Identities: DA

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia-based insurance agent as been accused of using stolen identities to take more than $42,000 in commission, according to authorities.

District Attorney Larry Krasner said Brittany N. Locke-Perez, 25, of Philadelphia, was arrested and charged with 54 counts of felony theft by deception, 54 counts of felony forgery, and 54 counts of insurance fraud.

Locke-Perez is accused of stealing the identities of 54 Philadelphians, creating and submitting fraudulent insurance policies, and illegally collecting more than $42,000 in commission, the DA's office said.

She was working for the Georgia-based Kingdom Insurance Group as a licensed insurance agent in Philadelphia to sell Mutual of Omaha insurance policies.

From about December 2018 through January 2019, Locke-Perez submitted 48 fraudulent insurance applications to Mutual of Omaha for Critical Illness insurance policies for clients in the Philadelphia area and collected $42,585.73 in commission, according to the DA's office.

Kingdom Insurance Group started an internal investigation after it never got valid payments for the fraudulent policies, and eventually contacted the DA's office Economic Crimes and Insurance Fraud Unit to report theft.

Critical Illness insurance policies are designed to help the policyholder with an immediate, life-threatening, catastrophic health issue.

In close coordination with the Kingdom Insurance Group and Mutual of Omaha, the DAO immediately launched an investigation.

Detectives reviewed the illegal polices and conducted one-on-one interviews with insurance officials and many of the 54 victims.

The investigation revealed that in some instances, multiple policies were taken out for a single victim.

Detectives found that dates of birth and Social Security numbers on bogus policies matched the names of several victims, but addresses, telephone numbers, and email addresses generally did not. The same address was listed on multiple policies, and several victims were revealed to be deceased or disabled.

Locke-Perez is no longer employed by the Kingdom Insurance Group.

She is next due to appear in court on Jan. 28, 2020.

According to Equifax, one of the country’s three major credit reporting agencies, data breaches and identity theft impacts 143 million Americans. To protect themselves, consumers are advised to:

• Keep their Social Security card in a secure place and not carry it in their wallet;
• Refrain from sharing birthdates, Social Security numbers, or bank account numbers;
• Collect their mail every day and put a hold on it when they are on vacation;
• Call their biller if their monthly bill is late or missing;
• Lock their cell phones with a personal password and install firewall protections on business and personal computers;
• Always review their credit card and bank statements and report unauthorized payments;
• Shred receipts, credit offers, account statements, and expired credit cards;
• Store their personal information in a safe place; and
• Regularly change bank, computer, and account PIN numbers and passwords.

Anyone who believes they are the victim of identity theft should immediately contact their credit card company, bank, and one of the three major credit reporting agencies:

• Equifax: 1-888-766-0008
• Experian: 1-888-397-3742
• TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289