Nigerian Lady Jailed Five Years in US Over $5.5m COVID-19 Fraud Scheme

A 28-year-old US based Nigerian lady, Oluwatobi Seton, has been sentenced to nearly 5.5 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Oluwatobi, a resident of Bloomington, Indiana,was found guilty of conspiring  with partners in Nigeria to obtain unemployment and other benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic from state and federal governments by falsely applying for such benefits using the stolen identities of others.

Seton and her co-conspirators obtained personal identifiable information of their victims, which they used to open GoBank accounts and obtain debit cards. The conspirators then submitted false and fraudulent employment applications to unemployment agencies throughout the United States in the victims’ names and had the stolen monies deposited into their fraudulent GoBank accounts and onto debit cards. Seton then used fake driver’s licenses in the victims’ names to access the proceeds of the fraud scheme. At the time of her arrest, Seton had over 1,400 GoBank cards and ten driver’s licenses with different names in her possession.

In total, the conspiracy resulted in at least $5,475,459.00 in actual and attempted losses to state unemployment offices and other state and federal agencies: Seton kept a portion of the proceeds for herself and sent the remainder to her conspirators, including her business partners in Nigeria. Investigators seized over $550,000 in cash and GoBank accounts linked to the scheme during the investigation.

“This international criminal enterprise conspired to steal millions of dollars meant to help our citizens as we fought through the unprecedented pandemic,” said United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, Zachary A. Myers.

He  added: “Fraudsters like this defendant who sought to exploit the urgent need to provide pandemic relief must be held accountable. I commend the work of our partners at the FBI, Bloomington Police Department, and Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, along with our federal prosecutors, to identify criminals like this defendant and ensure that they pay the price for their crimes.”