A Reno man has been indicted on several charges after allegedly engaging in a $3.5 million fraud scheme using over 8,000 fraudulent PayPal credit accounts, bank accounts, and prepaid credit and debit cards he created with stolen identities.

Kenneth Gilbert Gibson, 46, made his initial appearance in federal court on September 14. He 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.

Between 2012 and 2017, Gibson is accused of obtaining the identities of multiple victims and used those victim’s identities 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, Gibson faces over 60 years in prison and $1,500,000 in fines, 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. He 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. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Carla B. Higginbotham.

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 www.identitytheft.gov or by phone at 1-877-438-4338. For identity theft prevention tips and free resources visit www.ftc.gov/idtheft.

An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.