According to Equinoxe Soir, the defendants obtained personally identifiable information (PII) from the victims. If found guilty, they face 20 years in prison
Gladstone Njokem, 34, Hyattsville Martin Tabe, 32, and Sylvester Atekwane, 31, are being sued in the United States of America for fraud. They are accused of having defrauded more than one and a half billion FCFA.
According to the 13-count indictment, from February 2020 to February 2021, Njokem, Tabe, Atekwane and others posed as victims of COVID 19 in order to submit unemployment insurance claims fraudulent. To do this, the defendants obtained the personally identifiable information (PII) of the victims.
The defendants shared personal information with each other and with others and then used the personal information of the victims “to submit fraudulent claims for unemployment insurance benefits in Maryland, Michigan and Tennessee,” reports our colleague which underlines that the defendants risk 20 years imprisonment.