The United States Department of Justice explained that the men worked with accomplices outside the country to steal personal information from unsuspecting citizens. Using these details, they filed fraudulent unemployment claims during the pandemic, which led to the issuance of benefit debit cards in the names of real people.

Investigators discovered that the convicts used many of these cards to make repeated cash withdrawals from ATMs in Indianapolis and nearby cities. Hundreds of transactions were traced back to the group, resulting in significant financial losses.

In court, one of the men admitted to identity theft, while the others were convicted of conspiracy and fraud-related offences. Each of them received a prison sentence and will remain under supervised release after serving their jail terms.

The court also directed them to repay the stolen funds in full. In addition, one of the convicts agreed to be deported to Nigeria once his sentence is completed.