ERIE, Penn.—Sixteen people have now been indicted in a Nigerian tax return fraud ring that was first discovered by Widget Financial Credit Union here.
According to authorities, 10 more defendants have been added in the case to the six already under indictment. The group allegedly filed approximately $38 million in fraudulent tax returns from 2010-2013 and received approximately $10 million in refunds. In all, prosecutors said the group used 11,468 stolen identities, opened 3,493 bank accounts in 443 institutions, and obtained 4,563 credit cards. The fraud ring was exposed when a manager at Widget Financial began cross-checking some background information on the accounts in December of 2012. The CU then put together a description of how the fraud was allegedly being perpetrated, and provided that to the FBI. Authorities said the participants were Nigerian immigrants, in the country legally, who were sending part of the stolen money back to Nigeria.
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