Identity Thief Targeting Social Security Faces Lengthy Prison Sentence

Identity Thief Targeting Social Security Faces: After stealing the Social Security identity of a dead child, an Ohio woman received hundreds of thousands of dollars in benefits.

A 56-year-old Cincinnati woman, Christina Vaskovsky, was arrested in November of last year after stealing thousands of dollars.

Vaskovsky was arrested in 2008 for stealing $14,500 from her employer, but she failed to appear at her court date, and a warrant was issued for her arrest.

The stolen identity was used by Vaskovsky in 2010, using the personal information of a child born the same year as her but who died in 1977.

Identity Thief Targeting Social Security Faces Lengthy Prison Sentence

WKRC reported that she accepted a plea deal that recommended a 12- to 30-month prison sentence. Also, she will be required to repay $191,000 to a number of government agencies, including Medicare and Medicaid Services, Social Security Administration (SSA), U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Through the false identity, Vaskovsky was able to secure $19,570 in food stamps and clear $128,000 in debt.

In addition, Vaskovsky received $29,000 in Social Security benefits, $11,600 in unemployment benefits, and $4,833 in Supplemental Security Income disability benefits. The Medicare benefits might have been Vaskovsky’s biggest scam, as they ended up costing the government $116,000.

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There is no exact figure on the number of cases of Social Security identity theft in the U.S. each year, but experts estimate more than 50,000 victims lose $200 million annually, said Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor in Tennessee.

Over the past few years, many other cases have been reported across the country.

A woman named Deleria Huff pocketed $337,642 in Social Security benefits meant for her dead mother for 30 years in Alabama.

A Medicare non-utilization audit indicated Huff’s mother may have died, but Huff told an SSA representative in 2020 that her mother was still living with her but could not speak.

She will be sentenced in July after her benefits were suspended and she admitted her mother had died.

IDShield, a brand that protects against identity theft, found in a survey this year that seven out of 10 dating app users had been scammed, and many of those had given out their Social Security numbers.

“While the SSA has been in the constant process of trying to cut down on these cases, it remains a prevalent problem,” Beene told Newsweek.

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According to Beene, you should protect your own Social Security number as you would your most prized possession. You should never provide it over the phone, text or online unless it’s a government, state, or banking entity.

“Even then, it’s a good idea to call the entity before following the prompt to enter it,” Beene said. “You want to ensure where you’re entering the number is both legally needed and the database you’re sending it to is secure.”