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SALT LAKE CITY — Two Georgia men accused of draining the 401(k) accounts of at least two people have been charged in Salt Lake.
Abdulrasheed Adeola Yusuf, 29, of Lilburn, Georgia, and Temilade Damilare Adekunle, 31, of Lawrenceville, Georgia, were charged Friday in 3rd District Court with two counts of identity fraud, a second-degree felony, and two counts of communications fraud, a second-degree felony. Yusuf was also charged with forgery, a third-degree felony.
On Aug. 8, Steven Voss discovered that someone had drained his entire 401(k) account, according to charging documents.
Voss, who has been retired for about a year-and-a-half, told KSL that he had just gotten back from vacation and decided to check his balance.
"I was curious because the market was doing well this past week and I said, 'What’s that at?'” he said. “And I logged into my account and it’s a zero-dollar balance.”
Voss learned that someone had contacted his company and requested his 401(k) be cashed out and that a check for $42,000 be sent to a UPS store in West Valley for pick up, according to a Salt Lake County Jail report.
On Aug. 14, Unified police went to the store and got the package with the check inside before Yusuf and Adekunle arrived. A replica package was then created and detectives waited for someone to show up and claim it, according to charging documents.
With an officer dressed in plain clothes in the store watching, Yusuf walked in and claimed the package, the charges state.
After Yusuf left, other officers pulled him and Adekunle over a short time later. In addition to having a forged driver's license with Yusuf's picture and Voss' name, investigators also found another UPS package in the car with another 401(k) check in the amount of $85,000, the jail report states. That package was apparently picked up just before they went to the West Valley UPS store, the charges state.
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Riverton couple prevents 401(k) fraud by checking on account just in time
Andrea and Steve Voss are a year and a half into their retirement. Last week, they took a trip to Yellowstone, but when they got back on Friday, they noticed there was a serious issue with that money they’ve saved for retirement.Detectives also found other forged IDs and learned that the men had just flown into Utah that day for the purpose of picking up the packages.
Police said the same company managed both 401(k) accounts that were compromised. Between Aug. 8 and Aug. 10, the company received calls from someone claiming to be the owners of the accounts, and were able to provide the corresponding dates of birth, Social Security numbrers and ZIP codes for verification, the charges state.
Court documents do not state how Yusuf and Adekunle allegedly got the personal information of Voss and the other victim.
Unified police say if not for Voss checking his account, it may have been too late to stop the thefts. It's a good reminder for all residents, according to police, to occasionally check their balances.
