Abidemi Rufai, Employment Benefit Theft, Washington 2021

The scammers have been caught: a Nigerian national has been indicted for stealing over $350,000 in unemployment benefits from the Washington State Employment Security Department. Abidemi Rufai, a 42-year-old Lekki, Nigeria resident, was arrested on May 14, 2021 at JFK Airport in New York, and is currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

According to the indictment, Rufai used the stolen identities of more than 100 Washington residents to file fraudulent claims with ESD for pandemic-related unemployment benefits. He also filed claims in Hawaii, Wyoming, Massachusetts, Montana, New York, and Pennsylvania, causing the fraud proceeds to be paid out to online payment accounts such as ‘Green Dot’ accounts, or wired to bank accounts controlled by “money mules.” Some of the proceeds were then mailed to the Jamaica, New York address of Rufai’s brother.

The indictment alleges that Rufai used variations of a single e-mail address in a manner intended to evade automatic detection by fraud systems. By using this practice, Rufai made it appear that each claim was connected with a different email account.

Rufai caused the fraud proceeds to be paid out to online payment accounts, or wired to bank accounts controlled by “money mules.” More than $288,000 was deposited into an American bank account controlled by Rufai between March and August 2020.

Rufai faces up to 30 years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud, as the offense relates to benefits paid in connection with a presidentially-declared disaster or emergency, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Aggravated identity theft is punishable by a mandatory minimum two year sentence to run consecutive to any sentence imposed on the other counts of conviction.

The charges contained in the indictment are only allegations. A person is presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The case was investigated by the FBI, with assistance from the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (DOL-OIG). The Washington Employment Security Department is cooperating in the investigation.

The cases are being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Seth Wilkinson, Cindy Chang, and Benjamin Diggs of the Western District of Washington, and Trial Attorney Jane Lee of DOJ’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS).

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdwa/pr/nigerian-national-indicted-conspiracy-wire-fraud-and-aggravated-identity-theft-fraud