ATLANTA — An Atlanta couple has been indicted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office after they allegedly used numerous stolen identities to fraudulently claim Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits under fictitious employer accounts registered with the Georgia Department of Labor.
Shenita Daniel and Wayne A. Lowe, Jr., according to officials, schemed their way into fraudulent payment of more than $1.5 million in UI benefits, including Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Lost Wage Assistance – programs that were created and expanded to assist individuals experiencing unemployment due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“During the height of the pandemic in 2020, criminals exploited the availability of COVID-19 unemployment benefits to illegally enrich themselves,” U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said. “The defendants allegedly used the identities of numerous victims to illegally obtain proceeds meant to help citizens who desperately needed these funds to support themselves and their families during a time of emotional and economic crisis. In doing so, they diverted more than $1.5 million in government benefits.”
Buchanan said that beginning in June 2020, Daniel and Lowe allegedly created several fictitious employer accounts with the Georgia Department of Labor.
Through these accounts, they submitted false information to the Georgia Department of Labor that was used, in part, to determine whether persons associated with the employer were entitled to receive benefits.
The scheme included the names and personal identifying information of false employees, which were actually stolen identities of individuals who had no knowledge of the scheme and did not consent to the use of their information.
Daniel and Lowe also allegedly submitted false hiring dates and false quarterly wage information for the purported employees.
The couple also ventured to attempt this scheme in California, the U.S. Attorney’s Office learned.
The Georgia Department of Labor approved and paid UI claims through the issuance of debit cards mailed to various addresses in the metro Atlanta area and paid more than $1.5 million in benefits as a result of the scheme.
Daniel, 42, of Atlanta and Lowe, 43, of Union City, are charged with conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
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