{"id":81343,"date":"2021-08-29T10:30:31","date_gmt":"2021-08-29T14:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=81343"},"modified":"2021-08-29T10:30:31","modified_gmt":"2021-08-29T14:30:31","slug":"these-highly-organized-crime-syndicates-were-actually-set-up-to-steal-this-400-billion-before-the-covid-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=81343","title":{"rendered":"These highly organized crime syndicates were actually set up to steal this $400 billion BEFORE THE COVID ERA!"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Foreign Syndicates May Have Stolen Up<br \/>\nTo $400 Billion In COVID Benefits<\/h1>\n<p><!--more-->By Charles Benavidez<br \/>\nSafeHaven.com<\/p>\n<p>The now infamous \u201cNigerian Prince\u201d was never a \u201cprince\u201d and was never royalty of any kind. Instead, he was a suspended advisor to the local governor in one of Nigeria&#8217;s states. He didn&#8217;t stop at sending you messages with promises of untold riches in return for your bank account information. More recently, he\u2019s been scamming the\u00a0U.S. federal government\u2019s jobless benefits.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For the \u201cNigerian Prince\u201d, COVID-19 has been a windfall. But he\u2019s not alone.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/5798b85079c4aef0c14a9bbce0e4535a.jpg?itok=Axh9adGo\" data-image-external-href=\"\" data-image-href=\"\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/5798b85079c4aef0c14a9bbce0e4535a.jpg?itok=Axh9adGo\" data-link-option=\"0\"><picture><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"inline-images image-style-inline-images\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/5798b85079c4aef0c14a9bbce0e4535a.jpg?itok=Axh9adGo\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"209\" data-entity-type=\"file\" data-entity-uuid=\"739500af-72e6-4757-9115-60e9538bdb98\" data-responsive-image-style=\"inline_images\" \/><\/picture><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"Advert_desktop__1J5vD Advert_tablet__3QEBr Advert_mobile__1rlLc Advert_placement__1I4yb Advert_align__N0_fw\">\n<aside id=\"in-content-video\" class=\"Advert_verticallySpaced__wnPy3\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/21841313772,21778456762\/zerohedge\/in_content_video_0__container__\"><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>As much as $400 billion dollars in unemployment benefits may have fallen, or could fall, into foreign hands, according to some estimates. And it\u2019s been \u201ceasy money\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The \u201cNigerian Prince\u201d is now known as Abidemi Rufai, and he\u2019s been in US<a href=\"https:\/\/www.seattletimes.com\/business\/suspect-in-washington-state-unemployment-fraud-was-a-senior-nigerian-government-aide\/\">\u00a0custody<\/a>\u00a0since his arrest in May at the JFK International Airport in New York as he prepared to fly first class back to Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p>He is accused of\u00a0<strong>using the identities of more than 100 Washington residents<\/strong>\u00a0to steal more than $350,000 in unemployment benefits from the Washington State Employment Security Department (ESD) during the COVID-19 pandemic last year.<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Justice<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-wdwa\/pr\/nigerian-citizen-charged-defrauding-washington-state-employment-security-department\">\u00a0document<\/a>\u00a0shows that the Nigerian allegedly\u00a0<strong>carried out the fraud by using the stolen identities of American workers.<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIn so doing, Rufai caused and attempted to cause the Employment Security Department to pay out federal and other unemployment benefits in excess of $350,000, and fraudulently caused other states to pay out additional benefit payments,\u201d Department of Justice document said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Rufai is also charged with trying to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbc15.com\/2021\/05\/30\/feds-unemployment-fraud-suspect-tried-to-bilk-irs-of-16m\/\">defraud<\/a>\u00a0the Internal Revenue Service of nearly $1.6 million.<\/p>\n<p><strong>According to the IRS, Rufai<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbc15.com\/2021\/05\/30\/feds-unemployment-fraud-suspect-tried-to-bilk-irs-of-16m\/\">\u00a0filed<\/a>\u00a0652 fraudulent tax returns on behalf of taxpayers whose identities he had stolen.\u00a0<\/strong>The agency\u2019s investigation showed the scheme netted Rufai nearly $900,000, since many of the returns were<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/compliance\/criminal-investigation\/nigerian-citizen-charged-with-defrauding-washington-state-employment-security-department-of-over-350000\">\u00a0rejected<\/a>\u00a0by the IRS, who had Rufai\u00a0under investigation for years.<\/p>\n<p>Wire fraud is punishable by up to 30 years in prison, when it relates to benefits paid in connection with a presidentially declared disaster or emergency, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>Since early last year, the vultures have been descending on the easy money opportunity provided by the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The coronavirus pandemic has caused a 4,800% increase in unemployment fraud cases.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2021\/01\/05\/scammers-have-taken-36-billion-in-fraudulent-unemployment-payments-.html\">\u00a0Labor Department<\/a>\u00a0estimates, in 2020 the federal government lost at least $60 billion on fraudulent or improper unemployment payments.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, according to an estimate by<a href=\"https:\/\/cbs6albany.com\/news\/coronavirus\/founder-ceo-of-idme-talks-to-cbs-6-about-unemployment-fraud\">\u00a0ID.me<\/a>\u00a0fraud-detection service,\u00a0unemployment benefits fraud could easily reach $400 billion.\u00a0<strong>That enormous figure represents\u00a0nearly half of stimulus unemployment payments. And they claim that most of it ends up in the hands of foreign crime syndicates.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Haywood Talcove,\u00a0the CEO of LexisNexis Risk Solutions, told<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/pandemic-unemployment-fraud-benefits-stolen-a937ad9d-0973-4aad-814f-4ca47b72f67f.html\">\u00a0Axios<\/a>\u00a0that at least 70% of the money stolen ended up in China, Nigeria, Russia and elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>Some of these syndicates have organized low-wage teams to file phony claims, while others\u00a0have been able to access the money by stealing personal information or\u00a0buying it on the dark web.<\/p>\n<p>The<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/news-events\/press-releases\/2021\/02\/new-data-shows-ftc-received-2-2-million-fraud-reports-consumers\">\u00a0Federal Trade Commission<\/a>\u00a0(FTC), a consumer protection agency, received<strong>\u00a01.4 million identity theft reports last year, more than double compared to 2019.\u00a0<\/strong>Nearly half million people reported that their\u00a0information was misused to apply for a government benefit, such as unemployment insurance. A year prior, that number was 20,000.<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/safehaven.com\/news\/Breaking-News\/Foreign-Syndicates-May-Have-Stolen-Up-To-400B-In-COVID-Benefits.html\">https:\/\/safehaven.com\/news\/Breaking-News\/Foreign-Syndicates-May-Have-Stolen-Up-To-400B-In-COVID-Benefits.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Foreign Syndicates May Have Stolen Up To $400 Billion In COVID Benefits<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81343\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}