Former Kentucky basketball player Kerr Kriisa has been arrested by the FBI in connection with a fraud scheme, Kentucky Sports Radio reported on Saturday.
Kriisa, who also played guard for West Virginia, Arizona and Cincinnati during his collegiate basketball career, is connected with a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme dating back to his time with the Mountaineers, according to the report.
The 25-year-old is being extradited to West Virginia, per the report, which did not provide additional details on the allegations.
An Estonia native, Kriisa caught on with Arizona following a strong international run that included stints in Lithuania and Germany. The guard spent three seasons with the Wildcats, increasing his scoring average each season (2020-23).
Identity theft is the “foundational” fraud upon which many other crimes are built. It involves the unauthorized acquisition and use of a person’s personal identifying information (PII), such as an ID number, Social Security number, or passport details.
- How it works: Fraudsters obtain PII through data breaches, mail theft, or “social engineering” (tricking people into revealing details). Once they have this data, they can open new bank accounts, apply for credit cards or loans, and even receive medical treatment under your name.
- Synthetic Identity Fraud: A sophisticated variation where criminals combine real and fabricated information to create a completely new, “synthetic” person. This is particularly difficult to detect because there is no single victim to report the suspicious activity initially.