Myrna Faria was employed by the Social Security Administration (SSA) from approximately 1991 through 2019 as a “Social Insurance Specialist” working in the Workload Support Unit in San Juan, Puerto Rico. But Faria may end up being best known in her illustrious twenty-eight-year career as a Fraud Specialist. It looks like she was shoring up for her retirement with Social Security fraud.
From March 2012 through March 2024, Fari filed thirteen fake claims on behalf of others, using the identity of individuals she believed to be deceased. Deceased victims can’t complain therefore the preferred stolen identity by fraudsters. Dead or alive, it didn’t matter. In her position with the Social Security Administration, Faria was going to approve those false claims no matter what. With each claim, Faria submitted her own bank and address information to collect the benefits. All thirteen claims to one bank account and it wasn’t flagged? In total, Faria stole just over $1,812,000 in benefits.
On March 6, 2024, a federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico indicted Myrna Faria, a.k.a. Myrna Oliveras-Santiago, with theft of government funds. Namely Retirement Insurance Benefits, Survivors Insurance Benefits and Auxiliary Benefit payments, to which she knew she was not entitled. It was said in court that “This is embarrassing and despicable conduct by a public official.” But maybe more embarrassing is that the system didn’t catch this fraud for twelve years. At the time of Farias indictment, ten fraudulent claims were still active and receiving funds.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Social Security employee steals $1.8 million in funds by filing fake claims, feds say” published by the Miami Herald on March 15, 2024
A former employee for the Social Security Administration is accused of abusing her position to steal $1.8 million in benefits over a 12-year span. She’s facing federal charges in Puerto Rico. Myrna Faria worked for the Social Security Administration in San Juan for 28 years as a “‘social insurance specialist’ and ‘claims specialist’” before retiring in 2019, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico said in a March 14 news release. Faria began using her position to steal funds from the Social Security Administration in March 2012, prosecutors said.
Over a 12-year period, she filed 13 fake claims “on behalf of others, using the identity of individuals she believed to be deceased,” prosecutors said. “She then approved those false claims and submitted her own bank and address information” to collect the benefits. In total, Faria stole just over $1,812,000 in benefits, according to the district attorney’s office. Prosecutors said that “a total of 10 fraudulent claims were still active and receiving funds as of the date of (Faria’s) indictment.”
