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Identity fraud has been rampant during the Pandemic. Our Identity Fraud Reduction and Redress Working Group provides insights agencies can use to keep you, your identity, and the benefits you deserve safe.

MOBILE, AL – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama today announced sentencings as part of a nationwide enforcement actions led by the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division, Internal Revenue Service, and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) targeting tax fraud and related offenses. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama was key participant in this surge effort. Several defendants were sentenced for defrauding the United States of millions of dollars intended for businesses impacted by the...

U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford is pleased to announce a series of criminal and civil enforcement actions to combat fraud involving federal pandemic relief funds. Since June 2026, the District of Oregon’s Covid Fraud Task Force has brought 12 enforcement actions involving more than $29 million in losses and thus far resulting in more than $8.6 million in recovery. Since 2020, the District’s COVID Fraud Task Force recovered more than $314 million and held fraudsters accountable through similar efforts.

Today, the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division along with the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the SBA Office of Inspector General, as part of a Heartland Fraud Surge announced the results of Operation No Doze, a surge of criminal enforcement actions targeting fraud in SBA’s small business COVID-era loan programs.

Jurors deliberated for about an hour before finding Kenneth C. Sparks III guilty of 20 counts.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - An Anchorage businesswoman was sentenced today to 3.8 years in prison for lying on federal loan applications and stealing identities to fraudulently obtain nearly $1 million in COVID-19 relief funds.

Baltimore, Maryland – A Maryland woman received a federal-prison term, today, for her role in an unemployment insurance (UI) fraud conspiracy. District Judge Matthew J. Maddox sentenced Elizabeth Maria Ceballos, 50, of Silver Spring, to 40 months in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges in connection with the scheme.

Brian T. Smith, 52, and Myria K. Phaisan, 50, both of Omaha, Nebraska, were sentenced in federal court in Omaha for conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – On April 9, 2026, JELISSA LACOUR (“LACOUR”), age 37, a resident of Jefferson Parish, was sentenced by United States District Judge Carl J. Barbier for two counts of wire fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft, announced U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle.

The indictment accuses the conspirators of submitting at least 40 fraudulent applications for Paycheck Protection Program loans and Economic Injury Disaster Loans that yielded at least $8.3 million.