Coronavirus con game

Is there anything criminals won’t do to make a buck?

According to the Associated Press, about 10,000 prison inmates in Pennsylvania fraudulently applied for coronavirus unemployment benefits that totaled nearly a quarter- billion dollars.

Fortunately for taxpayers, a determined group of federal and state officials, corrections officers and postal investigators thwarted many of those involved in the scheme. They now face even lengthier prison sentences and considerable fines.

According to the affidavits filed in these cases, the defendants filed for unemployment benefits through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which provides unemployment benefits for workers who lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In a joint statement, U. S. Attorney Scott W. Brady and Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced that 33 individuals, including inmates at eight state and county jails and prisons in Western Pennsylvania and their accomplices, have been charged with illegally obtaining the benefits.

“They rip- offed off a program meant for everyday people whose lives were uprooted by COVID- 19, some doing so from jail cells in local Pennsylvania prisons,” Mr. Shapiro said.

Those charged are accused of using jail phones or other inmate communications to direct or assist people outside the prison to file claims online using the inmate’s records and falsely asserting that the inmate was available to work and was unemployed due to the COVID- 19 pandemic.

The Western Pennsylvania COVID- 19 Fraud Task Force, which included various state and federal agencies, conducted the investigation leading to the charges. Investigators from the Allegheny County Jail, who are detectives with the Allegheny County Police, were credited with being the first to uncover the fraud.

It’s certainly good to see so many various officials working together to help protect taxpayers. It’s a great example of the teamwork needed to stop criminals these days.