The pandemic relief program was a U.S. government initiative designed to assist struggling Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic – but it was also an initiative that criminals around the world saw as an opportunity to perpetrate fraud. Like Yomi Jones Olayeye, who used personally identifiable information (PII) that he purchased over criminal internet forums to fraudulently apply for state unemployment benefits across the country.
In total, Olayeye allegedly applied for at least $10 million in fraudulent unemployment benefits from the states of Massachusetts, Hawaii, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Montana, Maine, Ohio and Washington. He received more than $1.5 million in assistance that he was not entitled to. Using the same fraudulently obtained PII, Olayeye opened U.S. bank accounts and prepaid debit card accounts to receive the funds for the assistance payments. He did recruit some U.S.-based account holders to receive and transfer the fraud proceeds via cash transfer applications. Using the fraudulently gained proceeds, Olayeye would then purchase Bitcoin via online marketplaces.
In order to execute his scheme, Olayeye concealed his connection to Nigeria by leasing Internet Protocol addresses assigned to computers located in the United States for use in the fraudulent transactions, a scheme he thought was successful until August 2025, when he returned from a trip to Nigeria and was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and taken into custody.
On April 23, 2025, Olayeye pled guilty to one count of wire fraud conspiracy and one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.
Shout out to the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force in this case.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Nigerian man pleads guilty to $10M pandemic unemployment fraud scheme” published by MassLive on April 23, 2025.
Nigerian man has pleaded guilty to involvement in a conspiracy to fraudulently obtain at least $10 million in COVID-19 unemployment benefits, the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.
Yomi Jones Olayeye, aka “Sabbie,” 40, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a press release. Olayeye was arrested in August 2024 upon arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City and remains in federal custody.
