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08/18/2025

Fraudster Rips Off $16,000,000 From US Government in COVID Identity Theft Scheme: DOJ

The Daily Hodl

A man from Georgia has been convicted of defrauding the US government out of millions of dollars in a COVID identity theft scheme.

In a new press release, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) says 34-year-old Malcolm Jeffery and his co-conspirators stole $16 million from the Georgia Department of Labor (GaDOL) that was originally meant to cover unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Authorities say that Jeffery filed over 7,000 fraudulent unemployment insurance claims using private information taken from victims of identity theft. To make his plan work, Jeffery filed the fake claims under his defunct business, Down N Dirty Transportation, pretending like they were legitimate employees.

 

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