Washington State Scammed Out of Million of Dollars by Nigerian Fraudsters

Probably all of us at some point or another have received the infamous email from a Nigerian prince claiming to share his inherited fortunes as soon as we pay a small fee on his behalf; since the large majority of us are not that gullible, we simply snicker and delete the email from our junk folder. However, for some, like the Employment Security Department in Washington State for example, it is no laughing matter.

It appears that Washington has come into some embarrassing trouble. Employment Security Department Commissioner Suzan LeVine recently admitted that the government has lost more than $1.6 million to Nigerian fraudsters that have made phony unemployment claims. The state of Washington had its unemployment rate soar to unprecedented levels back in March, with over a third of Americans filing for unemployment benefits. Turns out, the unemployment rate is actually not that high, and now a lot of Nigerians are actually living the royal life they have been dreaming about since the beginning of email communication.

Of course this scam was a little more refined that the average email spam. According to a memo by the Secret Service, the fraudsters already had amassed a list of personal information including social security numbers, which were most likely obtained through previous frauds. They then used this stolen information to file a bogus employment insurance claim online, and then had the money sent to a decoy in the state, who then forwarded the funds to Nigeria.

However, Washington was already an easy target in the first place. The state has a comparatively generous benefits system, which during the height of the coronavirus pandemic in the US, became overloaded with claims, and as a result, government officials were not paying much attention to the details in the claim. Furthermore, the government only recently sent out the benefits in lump sums that were earmarked from back in March, meaning that some lucky Nigerian fraudsters got a lot more money than they anticipating.

Although Washington getting conned out of millions of dollars is a hard pill to swallow for the Employment Security Department, Commissioner LeVine side-stepped the entire fiasco, and instead boasted in triumph that the department increased its security measures, and put a stop to any additional hundreds of millions of dollars that would have been headed to Nigeria.

Information for this briefing was found via RT News. The author has no securities or affiliations related to this organization. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.