25-year-old wanted in $2M unemployment fraud scheme in Arkansas disappears, feds say
Authorities are searching for a man wanted in connection to an unemployment fraud scheme in Arkansas, according to federal officials.
The FBI’s Little Rock office called for help to find the 25-year-old man in an Aug. 23 tweet. Officials said the man “was last seen in the central Arkansas area.”
Court documents obtained by McClatchy News show that the man is facing charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
He is one of 22 people involved in an unemployment fraud scheme that stole more than $2 million and lasted from January 2021 to August 2021, the Aug. 3 indictment in the Eastern District Court of Arkansas shows.
The scheme involved an inside bank contractor responsible for transactions on unemployment debit cards used in multiple states to deliver unemployment benefits, documents said. The contractor would access the bank’s system without authorization to “reissue debit cards, remove fraud blocks” and allow additional credit to be withdrawn from the unemployment debit card, the indictment said.
Twenty-two people are accused of using these unemployment credit cards for amounts ranging from $2,450 to $7,500, court records showed.
The missing man is accused of defrauding the bank of $2,500 while participating in the scheme, according to the indictment.
