Unemployment departments had to hire more people to cope with the increasing benefits demand. A woman from Detroit, Michigan, was one of those workers who joined to help in this process. Recently, this worker admitted to having stolen over $300,000 from taxpayers. This is particularly sad because many people lost their jobs and had no resources to make ends meet.
The country had not lived in a situation like this in many years, and unemployment increased a lot. This left many families in a terrible financial situation. That is why the U.S. government decided to act and carried out several measures to face this problem. Her name is Semaje Reffigee and she is 26 years old. Apparently, she could work from home and she belonged to the Michigan unemployment agency.
How much money did she manage to get from her job at the unemployment agency?
Semaje Reffigee, that was accused of committing wire fraud, helped other people file about 34 fraudulent claims for 313,497 dollars. This Michigan unemployment insurance examiner helped others benefit from fraudulent claims. Stealing a lot of money for COVID unemployment benefits. She started working in this position in October 2020 according to court records.
Her task was to review, process and check that those who claimed unemployment insurance benefits had the right to get it. As she had access to the agency database she approved them fraudulently. Besides, they were not random people or unknown people to her. They were conspiring together. But you may wonder how they managed to file these benefits.
Swindlers often used stolen or even fake identities
According to court documents, scammers send fake unemployment claims to the Michigan unemployment agency online. They either used fake names or stole people’s identities. So, they did not mind if they had to make those names up at all. What is more, they would pretend they had lost their jobs because of the pandemic. All the documents they submitted to prove it were fake too.
Once they had sent their unemployment applications it was time to contact Semaje Reffigee. Thus, they either call her or sent her a text message to tell her the details of their application. She would then approve those claims so that they could receive the money in their bank accounts or addresses. If they received it by mail, Bank of America debit cards were also available for scammers.
Did she get anything in exchange for her help?
Apparently, she also received some money in exchange. Depending on the unemployment claim it was, she usually got a few hundred dollars for each claim. Not only did she get money from scammers, but she also made unemployment claims in her own name. In total, she received $9,000 for the two fake unemployment applications she sent.
In addition to this, she even approved claims that had already been refused because they were considered to be fraud. The good thing about this case is the fact that these tricksters will have to face the consequences of fraud. Taking advantage of the money for the people who were suffering the consequences of the pandemic is something terrible. Protecting these unemployment benefits programs’ trust and integrity is one of the priorities of the U.S. Department of Labour.