Security News > 2022 > October > Prison inmate accused of orchestrating $11M fraud using cell cellphone

On June 8, 2020, an individual claiming to be billionaire film producer and philanthropist Sidney Kimmel contacted brokerage Charles Schwab by phone and stated that he had uploaded a wire disbursement form using the service's secure email service.

All the while the alleged mastermind, Arthur Lee Cofield Jr, was incarcerated in a maximum security prison in Butts County, Georgia, according to the government.

The day after the coins were purchased, prison staff are said to have searched Cofield's cell and recovered a blue Samsung cellphone hidden under his arm.

The prison forensic unit apparently determined that Cofield had been using a TextNow account and matched the phone number with calls made to Money Metals Exchange.

Cofield's attorney, Steven Sadow, subsequently sought to suppress the cellphone evidence on Fourth Amendment grounds, arguing that the warrantless search of the device by prison officials was unrelated to the legitimate function of prison security and maintenance.

The Register asked Charles Schwab whether any changes to its customer authentication procedures had been put in place as a result of Kimmel's impersonation.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/10/13/prison_11m_schwab_fraud/