Scattered Canary

Scattered Canary is a Nigerian fraud ring. During the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, the group used business email compromise and, according to the United States Secret Service, "hundreds if not thousands" of money mules to defraud U.S. state unemployment agencies.^[1] A security firm that tracked the group said they started in 2009 committing Craigslist scams, then in 2015 began phishing, and in 2016 were committing tax return fraud and credit card fraud, before specializing in ripoffs of government agencies in 2017.^[2] The Washington State Employment Security Department said that the group had stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from it in 2020;^[3]^[4] an estimate of the loss by the Washington State Auditor runs as high as over $600 million.^[5]^[6] In 2021, investigative journalists reported having accessed a 13-page "how to" guide published by Scattered Canary on defrauding the Texas unemployment system, which paid out over $800 million in fraudulent claims.^[7]

Sources

Ken Dilanian; Kit Ramgopal; Chloe Atkins (August 15, 2001). "'Easy money': How international scam artists pulled off an epic theft of Covid benefits". NBC News.
"The Nigerian Fraudsters Ripping Off the Unemployment System". Wired. August 15, 2021. Security researchers have spotted the "Scattered Canary" group scamming vital benefits programs amid the Covid-19 pandemic
Podkul, Cezary (July 26, 2021), How Unemployment Insurance Fraud Exploded During the Pandemic, ProPublica
Roberts, Paul (May 17, 2021), Nigerian man who allegedly participated in scam stealing $650M from Washington state arrested in New York, The Seattle Times – via Spokesman-Review (Spokane)
Massive fraud against state unemployment insurance programs, United States Secret Service Global Investigative Operations Center (GIOC), May 14, 2020, GIOC reference #20-027-1
New, Brian (May 26, 2021), Nigerian Cybercriminal Gang Targets Texas Unemployment System, Dallas-Fort Worth: KTVT
Malcolm, Kim; Hurst, Andy (April 14, 2021), Washington state auditor's report details unemployment fraud, Seattle: KUOW
La Corte, Rachel (May 28, 2020). "Washington recovers $300M in fraudulent unemployment claims". Associated Press – via ABC News. Washington officials say the state has recovered $300 million paid to criminals who used stolen personal information to file fraudulent unemployment benefit claims...Much of it apparently went to a West African fraud ring ... dubbed Scattered Canary.
Geranios, Nicholas K. (December 18, 2020). "Audit: Inadequate control to prevent state unemployment scam". Associated Press. [A] slew of illegal unemployment insurance claims last spring totaled about $600 million and grew into the largest fraud in state history, the Washington State Auditor said Friday....Much of the money apparently went to a West African fraud ring...dubbed Scattered Canary.

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