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Michigan man latest to be charged with submitting fraudulent Massachusetts pandemic unemployment claims

A Wayne, MI man with a penchant for $700 bottles of booze and $300 pairs of shoes was arrested this week on charges he was using fake IDs to collect $275,000 in bogus unemployment from nine states, including Massachusetts.

Devin Smith, 30, was charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. He was released on personal recognizance for arraignment in Boston, where he was formally charged, the US Attorney's office, reports.

According to an affidavit by a Department of Labor investigator, Smith submitted 12 Massachusetts unemployment claims under the names of various Massachusetts medical professional in March and April of 2020, using his Michigan address for payment via Bank of America debit cards. Then, on Sept. 13, 2020, he submitted his first fraudulent pandemic unemployment assistance claim under his own name - using a fake Massachusetts address, but a Michigan banks for payment.

Massachusetts quickly identified the accounts as potentially suspicious and forwarded their information, including their IP addresses, to the Department of Labor, which zeroed in on Smith's IP address. Smith continued his fraudulent Massachusetts unemployment claims through at least July 26, 2021, according to the affidavit.

Complete affidavit (1.4M PDF).

Innocent, etc.

Other alleged Covid-19 fraudsters:

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Comments

For every one of these amoral a**hole jerks that gets busted committing this fraud, I’m wondering how many are getting away with it and will never get caught.

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Let's face it taxpayers, the criminals are all over social media scamming all of us and stealing everything they can. We need the Federal government to make law enforcement much more aggressive in finding and arresting the offenders. WE MUST HOWEVER FIND AN INNOVATIVE WAY TO PUNISH. Barring these folks from using cellphones, computers, all forms of social media and new technology for life must be done as well as having the FBI keep track of them to ensure they are not able to use any technology at all.

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I assume a lot will get caught. Pretty easy to track down electronically. There might be some more sophisticated thief’s out there but this is low hanging fruit as fas as scams go.

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An optimist. I tend towards skepticism.

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to add a gibbet to the Boston City Hall plaza renovation.

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a stupid extravagance only enabled by fraudulently obtained filthy lucre. Or it might be a sensible footwear investment. It depends on the shoes and how well the owner takes care of them.

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There's been money making greedy scammers in every pandemic and other plague of the life on this planet in history. Why are we surprised?

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