17 indicted in Abingdon for a pandemic fraud scheme

The U.S. Department of Justice reports that A federal grand jury in Abingdon has returned an indictment, charging 17 individuals in a COVID-19 pandemic unemployment fraud scheme. The grand jury has charged all 17 with conspiring to defraud the United States, fraud in connection with emergency benefits, and conspiring to commit mail fraud. The scheme involved gathering the personal identification information of friends and acquaintances incarcerated at the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail in Haysi, and then filling out pandemic unemployment claim forms for each of the ineligible inmates via the Virginia Employment Commission’s website dedicated to pandemic relief. The DOJ says the defendants reportedly stole $341,205 in pandemic relief.