Social Security and Income Fraud

In spring of 2022, the Labor Department testified at a congressional hearing that they estimated there could have been “at least” $163 billion in unemployment-related “overpayments,” an estimate that includes wrongly paid sums as well as benefits obtained by malicious actors. One such malicious actor...

It seems like many spouses complain that their partners don’t listen to them or do what they are asked to do, but Stephen Schwartz must have been really bad at following instructions and ignoring that honey do list. Bad enough, at least, for Rebekkah...

Marcus C. Williams of Campbell, Ohio pleaded guilty to theft of government property after fraudulently receiving Retirement Insurance Benefits from the Social Security Administration (SSA) on behalf of his grandfather. Williams was sentenced to 15 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and...

Terrie Lynn Christian, of Newaygo, Mich., pled guilty to defrauding the Social Security Administration (SSA) of over $550,000 in benefits for two fictitious children. Christian’s scheme started in 2002, but it was not discovered until 2019. (Developing a fraud scheme that involves pretending to...

Jamie Aguilar, a Mexican national, was sentenced in Del Rio, Tex., to a 45-month prison term after pleading guilty to one count of Theft of Public Money. (No surprise here that another fraudster is not who they claim to be.) In May 2006, the 60-year-old,...

Angela Marie Farr, a 36-year-old resident of Leonardtown, Md., and former member of the U.S. Navy, defrauded the Veterans Administration and Social Security Administration of more than $1 million in disability benefits. (It sounds like her motto was definitely NOT “Non Patriae Sed Sib,”...

Social Security numbers can be likened to the “Golden Ticket” that gets Charlie into Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. Identity thieves love them because these 9-digit numbers can be used to obtain credit cards or other loans, open bank accounts, apply for a job, file...

Donald Glenn Connor of Fort Dodge, Iowa was sentenced to ten months in prison after stealing more than $15,000 in Social Security benefits. He pleaded guilty in February to one count of representative payee fraud. Connor applied to become the representative payee, someone the Social...

Jamare Mason, of Georgia, recently participated in a Social Security fraud scheme in Miami, Fla., where he worked with co-conspirators to steal the personal information of disabled veterans and Social Security Administration (SSA) beneficiaries. (These opportunistic fraudsters really were shameless when it came to...

Charles Edward “Ed” Severt Jr., 52, of Xenia, Ohio, has an interesting story but no happy ending. While he survived being shot by his wife, he used that incident to pursue $370,000 in Social Security disability benefits he didn’t deserve. I can imagine that being...