Jay Inslee Loses Hundreds Of Millions To Nigerian Scam Artists As Washingtonians Struggle

Spam emails from “Nigerian princes” have flooded the inboxes of millions of Americans throughout the years, offering large sums of cash in exchange for clicking a link and providing some personal information.

The wallets of these notorious scam artists have gotten heavier on Washington Governor Jay Inslee’s watch thanks to his administration sending “hundreds of millions of dollars” in unemployment benefits to an “international fraud scheme…orchestrated from Nigeria” that would otherwise have gone to workers facing job losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While Inslee has been dishing out fraudulent unemployment benefits to organized criminals, jobless Washingtonians are still waiting to receive their assistance. The saga has “raised questions about what” the state’s Employment Security Department “could have done to detect and prevent the fraudulent activity.”

Not only has Inslee’s glaring lack of oversight left tens of thousands of Washingtonians vulnerable to identify theft, the rampant fraud means that “additional delays in benefit payments to legitimate claimants are likely” according to Inslee administration officials.

“As working families waited for help, Jay Inslee and his administration were clueless as the state sent hundreds of millions of dollars to Nigerian criminals instead of Washingtonians in need,” said RGA Communications Director Amelia Chassé Alcivar. “Now Governor Inslee’s negligence is causing even further delays for already-struggling unemployed workers while he continues to shift the blame. It’s time to take responsibility, governor.”