NIGERIANS AGAIN? @guardiannigeria ... A "well-orchestrated" COVID-19-related fraud targeting multiple American states has been traced back to Nigeria, an internal US Secret Service memo said. The memo, seen by The Guardian, was reportedly sent to Secret Service's field offices across the US on Thursday, May 14. The Secret Service said the fraudsters are exploring the COVID-19 pandemic to commit "large-scale fraud against state unemployment insurance programs." A California-based cybersecurity firm Agari said on Tuesday, May 19, that "some if not all" of those who committed the fraud are part of a Nigerian fraud group Scattered Canary. Although Washington State was the primary target, evidence of the fraud was seen in North Carolina, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Oklahoma, Wyoming and Florida. To carry out the scam, the perpetrators, posing for instance as the State of Washington Unemployment Benefits Programme, sent individuals residing out-of-state Automated Clearing House (ACH) deposits in different names without connection to the account holders. The fraudsters then filed for unemployment claims in different states using Social Security Number and other personal identification information (PII) of their victims, which included first responders, government and school employees. Washington State's commissioner of the state Employment Security Department Suzi LeVine said the rush to pay the claims as quickly as possible may have left states like Washington vulnerable. The Seattle Times reported that 410 out of the 2,463-person staff of Western Washington University were targeted. Although LeVine did not say exactly how much has been lost to the suspected criminals, multiple media reports said the state may have been bled "hundreds of millions of dollars". For the full report, click the link in our bio. Photo credit: Seattle Times #ScatteredCanary #Fraud #Racket #Syndicate #SecretService #US #Nigeria #419 #Criminals #Washington #News #BreakingNews #TheGuardianNg #efcc https://www.instagram.com/p/CAiWlbfpIPL/?igshid=xl4wvf0kyh1e