The House committee investigating the attacks on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, will reportedly hold two more hearings next week.

The first hearing is scheduled for Tuesday. It will begin at 10 a.m. Eastern. The second hearing will be held on Thursday in primetime, according to NPR and NBC News.

It will be the second time the committee has held a hearing in primetime. The first hearing, which took place on June 9, was also televised in primetime.

The committee has attempted to show how former President Donald Trump attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 election and fueled conspiracy theories, leading to the riots.

In some of the most damning testimony, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson said Trump wanted to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6 to be with his supporters.

Hutchinson said White House lawyer Pat Cipollone warned that they could be charged if Trump goes to the Capitol. Trump ultimately went back to the West Wing.

After public calls to testify, Cipollone is expected to go before the committee in private on Friday.

Microsoft recently advised against longstanding, conventional cybersecurity logic on required password changes. It turns out forced switches made users select more predictable and easy-to-breach passwords.

"The pattern that humans use, particularly when they're not using a password manager, is they come up with, sort of, this rubric," said Pedro Canahuati, chief technology officer at 1Password. "If that's really very complex, it makes it difficult for people to gain access to it. But the reality is, humans are not good at randomness."

"The previous advice for people to rotate their passwords so frequently led to some really bad habits: people writing passwords down, only changing maybe the last digit," said Lisa Plaggemier, executive director of the National Cybersecurity Alliance.

"Changing that one character at the end of your password is not enough when you're up against a bot who's just cycling away at different passwords and switching out letters and numbers."

Humans are notoriously bad at passwords. NordPass' research of commonly used passwords across 50 countries in 2021 found the most popular were strings of letters or numbers, like 123456 and qwerty or words like a password. Most could be cracked in less than one second.

Still, if you search online for advice on how often you should change passwords, you'll still find many results saying you should change them routinely.

Newsy spoke to four cybersecurity experts about best rotation practices. While all noted that there are times when passwords should be changed — like when your data is implicated in a breach — other, more important security features can be used to strengthen data protection.

"People just need to understand that passwords only go so far, and you need multifactor authentication," said Ed Skoudis, president of SANS Technology Institute. "Password management organizations also have an obligation to keep their users secure and safe."

"The simple solution at the end of the day is to use strong and unique passwords with a password manager because nobody can create them as strong as they can with the password manager," said Craig Lurey, chief technology officer at Keeper Security. "This is hundreds of engineers, solely focused on protecting passwords in an encrypted vault that's highly secure and protected from access, and all the years of implementation that went into that versus whatever you think you can do with your notepad."

Newsy is the nation’s only free 24/7 national news network. You can find Newsy using your TV’s digital antenna or stream for free. See all the ways you can watch Newsy here.

MARTINSVILLE — Check your bank statements.

A scam involving unauthorized Google charges is hitting bank accounts across the country.

The charges are totally bogus but appear to be coming from Google and Google Play, and typically there’s more than one on your credit or debit card.

Anita Caincross went out to dinner with a friend, and when she went to pay with her debit card, it would not go through.

“I checked my account, and it was literally at zero,” said Caincross.

She found four separate charges totaling $4,065 that appeared to be from Google, with names next to each charge that Caincross did not recognize like “Duncan Oti” and “Maleto Ke.”

“I was angry,” Caincross said. “What the heck happened here?”

Caincross said the bogus Google purchases emptied her account which made it difficult to pay the bills.

“I had a car payment and a house payment, and I’m never late on payments like that,” Caincross said.

Caincross contacted Google, but she says the company refused to refund her money.

So, she contacted her bank, Fifth Third who reversed the charges.

“I canceled the card and filed the dispute,” Caincross said.

Customers from other banks across the country also have been hit with bogus Google charges.

A Reddit blog shows dozens of people who experienced fraudulent Google charges.

The amounts often start small, because the scammers hope you won’t notice.

"You may not think twice if you see Google, so that's why you've really got to drill down and see what those charges are,” said Jennifer Adamany, a spokesperson for the Better Business Bureau Serving Central Indiana. “Access your Google account and see what you're subscribed to and see if something doesn't look right. You have a better chance of stopping it early on."

The best thing you can do is to regularly check your banking statements and look for unauthorized charges, even if they’re small.

“Keep an eye on it early on so you can put a stop before it gets to larger amounts,” Adamany said.

Anita Caincross is sharing what happened to spread awareness about phony Google charges.

"It's important to be careful when using your debit cards online or anywhere because your information is extremely vulnerable,” Caincross said. “They can wipe you out in the matter of a seconds. You have to be hyper-vigilant.”

Google has not responded to requests for comment.

Fifth Third provided the following statement:

We have not seen any specific uptick related to this scam, however, Fifth Third takes fraud very seriously and continues to monitor trends and mitigate risks for our customers. Customers should always report any fraud as soon as possible to Fifth Third. They should also continue to be alert to scams via text and email. 

There always seems to be new (and old) ways to try to scam people. People commonly get these types of fake messages purporting to be from different banks, so people need to be careful regardless of where they bank. Below are some tips we provide related to scams:

• Be suspicious if you get a call or text asking for personal information such as account numbers or your Social Security Number.
• Be cautious if the person calling or texting has an urgent tone or if you are directed to an automated voice response asking you to validate information.
• Be cautious about clicking links within text messages.
• Never provide personal information over the phone or via text unless you initiated the call to a verified Fifth Third Bank phone number.

If customers have a question/are suspicious about an email, phone call, or text, contact Fifth Third directly to help.

• Call us via a verified Fifth Third Bank phone number and ask to be transferred to the person or department mentioned in the communication.
• Forward suspected phishing emails that appear to be from Fifth Third Bank to 53investigation@security.53.com. Suspicious emails appearing to come from other entities should be forwarded to reportphishing@antiphishing.org

This article was written by Kara Kenney for WRTV.

A small-town restaurant that survived COVID-19 is fighting to stay open after being hit with something that has been even more devastating – a case of fraud.

“I'm angry because I've always wondered how people can let people take advantage of them and then I fell for that,” said Diane Korner.

Korner is the owner of Korner Kountry Kitchen in Brookville, Indiana. She said a case of fraud cost them more than $100,000.

“I’m hurt that somebody would do this to us and make us struggle,” Korner said.

The restaurant was having trouble making payroll for the 25 employees and was a matter of hours from closing when things took an unusual turn.

The community came together to raise about $10,000. It’s not enough to bail the restaurant out, but it has kept its doors open.

“It's amazing,” said Kountry Kitchen general manager Amanda Merritt. “We've had phone calls, messages, there was a GoFundMe. They've helped with their donating.”

The money came from individuals around town who don’t want the restaurant to close.

“We come two to three times a week,” said James Wagner, who drives about 10 miles to get to the restaurant.

Wagner said it’s not just the food, but the small-town flavor of the business that keeps him coming back. Before his wife died, he would bring her to the restaurant. He said one day he was cutting up a salad to make the pieces smaller for his wife.

“So, Diane came over and said, ‘What are you doing?’” Wagner said he explained the situation. “From then on, she told the girls, anytime my wife ordered a salad, you make sure you got to cut it up real fine. She took care of my wife.”

Those kinds of details are not overlooked in a small town.

Korner said she is unable to talk about the details of the fraud case, but that local, state and federal authorities are looking into the crime.

Anastasia Pleasant thought she'd found a dream job working remotely.

Pleasant found a job opening online at Indeed.com, a legitimate job posting website that says it removes tens of millions of job listings each month that do not meet its quality guidelines.

The posting was for an executive assistant at a company supposedly called Guaranteed Finance Pro.

"And like I told you, I worked in journalism and I just I can't believe this happened to me," Pleasant said.

They offered to hire Pleasant right away — no interview required, which she thought was odd.

"And they said on the phone that this is a legitimate job and then emailed me, 'this is a legitimate job.' So I thought, 'well, OK, let's just go for it,'" Pleasant said.

Her supposed boss sent a check for $500 to buy supplies, but then he asked her to wire some payments to software vendors, which he said he would reimburse.

"So that should have been the first red flag that I ignored. And after that then they were sending me more checks and asking me to deposit them," Pleasant said.

Pleasant kept depositing the company’s checks, but her boss also kept asking her to wire money to more vendors.

Within days, Guaranteed Finance Pro’s checks started bouncing.

A panicked Pleasant learned her checking and savings accounts were empty, and she had a negative $25,000 balance.

Her boss texted back, “Be calm okay, do not panic.”

"And they just kept lying. And one of the checks that I have, they sent me a check for $34,000 to make up for everything. But then that bounced," Pleasant said.

Pleasant reported the scam to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, the State Attorney General and the FBI.

No one answered the company phone, the website had no information and Pleasant's money has vanished.

"I feel really stupid and embarrassed and I don't want that to happen to anybody else," she said.

Indeed released the following statement:

"Indeed puts job seekers at the heart of everything we do. We have a dedicated search quality team who goes to extraordinary lengths deploying a variety of techniques to assess the suitability and validity of job listings. Indeed removes tens of millions of job listings each month that do not meet our quality guidelines. In addition, Indeed will not do business with an employer if their job listings do not pass our stringent quality guidelines. We encourage job seekers to report any suspicious job advertisements to us, or if they feel it necessary, to make a report to the police. We encourage all job seekers to review our Guidelines for a Safe Job Search."

SALT LAKE CITY — Messages obtained by CNN show texts between Utah Sen. Mike Lee and President Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows in which the two discuss the administration's attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

On Dec. 8, 2020, Lee floated the idea of some states sending Electoral College delegates contrary to the verified ballot counts.

"If a very small handful of states were to have their legislatures appoint alternative slates of delegates, there could be a path," Lee wrote.

But almost a month later on Jan. 3, 2021, Lee expressed frustration with the president.

"I don’t think the president is grasping the distinction between what we can do and what he would like us to do," expressed Lee, who also sent the following message:

"Again, all of this could change if the states in question certified Trump electors pursuant to state law. But in the absence of that, this effort is destined not only to fail, but to hurt DJT in the process."

The very next day, Trump seemingly responded to Lee's texts at a rally the two attended in Georgia.

“Mike Lee is here too, but I am a little angry at him today,” the former president said.

Trump's comment drew a text response to Meadows from Lee.

"I’ve been spending 14 hours a day for the last week trying to unravel this for him. To have him take a shot at me like that in such a public setting without even asking me about it is pretty discouraging," messaged Lee. "It’s not your fault. But I’ve been calling state legislators for hours today, and am going to spend hours doing the same tomorrow. I’m trying to figure out a path that I can persuasively defend, and this won’t make it any easier."

Lee, who faces reelection this year, did not personally respond to the texts, but his office sent a statement.

"The text messages tell the same story Sen. Lee told from the floor of the senate the day he voted to certify the election results of each and every state in the nation. They tell the story of a U.S. senator fulfilling his duty to Utah and the American people by following the Constitution," his office said.

The main candidates running against Lee reacted to the story.

"It's sad to read that. I want senators from either party to put country ahead of partisan divides and in this case, it looks like he literally wants to be Trump's lawyer," said Kael Weston. "It's sad. It's not right."

In a tweet, challenger Evan McMullen called Lee’s actions a spurious legal effort to overturn the 2020 election.

This article was written by John Franchi for KSTU.

The FBI is issuing a warning about a new scam that's costing victims millions of dollars.

A news release from the FBI alerts mobile carriers and the public about an increase in Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) swapping, in which criminals steal money from virtual currency accounts.

SIM swapping may not be what you think it is. It doesn't mean a cybercriminal has to physically take your SIM card, the memory chips that make your phone yours, according to McAfee, a global computer security software company.

SIM swapping is now happening remotely when scammers can access and use your personal information to impersonate you and convince the mobile carrier of your phone to reassign your phone number to a new SIM card. That's when scammers can gain control of your phone data, change your passwords and access your accounts.

Between January 2018 and December 2020, the FBI said its Internet Crime Complaint Center received 320 complaints related to SIM swapping incidents that resulted in losses of $12 million.

In 2021, the center received 1,611 SIM swapping complaints about losses of $68 million.

SIM swapping targets mobile carriers to access victims' bank accounts, virtual currency accounts and other sensitive information through a few techniques.

Scammers sometimes use social engineering to impersonate the victim and trick the mobile carrier to switch the victim's mobile number to a SIM card in the scammer's possession.

They may also conduct SIM swap schemes to pay off mobile carrier employees to switch a victim's mobile number to a SIM card in their possession.

Scammers can also use phishing techniques to deceive employees to download malware that is then used to hack the mobile carrier system to carry out the SIM swap.

Once a scammer swaps the SIM, the victim's calls, texts and other data are downloaded to the scammer's device, which allows them to use "forgot password" or "account recovery" options with the victim's accounts associated with their email and phone number.

SIM swaps can even outsmart two-factor authentication, where mobile app providers send a link or one-time passcode through text to a victim's phone number. SIM swapping allows scammers access despite this process to log in, reset passwords and gain control of the victims' accounts.

In its news release, the FBI provided some advice to avoid SIM swapping scams:

• Don't advertise information about your financial assets, including ownership or investment in cryptocurrency, on social media.

• Don't provide mobile number account information over the phone, including your account password and pin. Verify the call by dialing the customer service line of your mobile phone carrier.

• Try to avoid posting your mobile phone number, address and other personal information online.

• Use different passwords for your online accounts.

• Use strong multi-factor authentication methods like biometrics, physical security tokens or standalone authentication applications to access your online accounts.

• Don't store passwords, usernames or login information on mobile device apps.

If you think you're the victim of SIM swapping, you should contact your mobile carrier immediately to regain control of your phone number. You should also access your online accounts, change your passwords and contact your bank to place an alert on your accounts for any suspicious login attempts or transactions.

The FBI recommends reporting any information about suspicious account activity to local law enforcement, your local FBI field office or the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center.

CHICAGO — While public health officials continue to wrestle with a global pandemic, crooks have been using the crisis as an opportunity to make a profit. Vendors are peddling fake vaccine cards on the dark web and consumers are ordering purported therapeutic drugs from dubious international sources.

Tens of millions of packages come through nine international mailing facilities around the United States annually. It’s a 24-hour operation.

Each year, Customs and Border Protection officers inspect and screen tens of million parcels to ensure they comply with state and federal law.

And since the beginning of the pandemic, they’ve been busy.

“We were seizing unapproved medications coming from China that were manufactured in clandestine labs,” said Christopher Macko, a supervisory officer with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

He says his officers have been intercepting everything from fake PPE and COVID-19 testing kits to drugs and phony vaccine cards.

“We were seeing hundreds and thousands of packages coming from unknown lands, basically to the consumer, in the United States,” he said.

Between January of last year and the end of July this year, the agency seized nearly 40 million counterfeit face masks, 187,000 FDA-prohibited COVID-19 test kits, and approximately 40,000 tablets of unapproved chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine.

“This is an open market, an unregulated market, also an illegal market,” said Ryan Linder, an emerging threats expert with Check Point Research.

They’ve been monitoring activity associated with pandemic-related fraud, cyber threats, and illegal commerce—some of it on the dark web.

“We must increase vaccination among the unvaccinated with new vaccination requirements,” said President Biden on Sept. 9.

Linder says the day after President Biden announced an emergency vaccine mandate for American workers, online activity spiked.

“The cost of these of these illegal cards on these platforms doubled overnight,” said Linder. “But more disturbingly, the number of sellers increased by about ten times.”

Earlier this month, Customs and Border Patrol seized two consignments destined for Texas that contained counterfeit vaccination cards from China. They also found shipments from China and Mexico headed to Atlanta, St. Louis and Minnesota that contained the controversial drugs ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine.

Linder warns that purchasing these kinds of items not only poses a risk to public health but to your personal information.

“You have no idea where that personal information ends up, so you may get a fake vaccine card. Your data might be sold on the dark web at great profit to these bad actors,” he said.

As the public remains sharply divided over vaccine mandates and controversial therapeutics, Linder says as long as people are willing to buy, the illegal imports won’t disappear.

“They want to have what they want to enjoy their lives and make money and earn a living, but they don't want a vaccine,” he said. “That population, I think, will be fixed for a very long time and therefore there will be a demand that's increasing with each one of these mandates.”

The simple warning to contraband shoppers he says is buyer beware.

NEW YORK —

Eighteen former NBA players were charged Thursday with pocketing about $2.5 million illegally by defrauding the league’s health and welfare benefit plan in a scam that authorities said involved claiming fictitious medical and dental expenses.

"The defendants' playbook involved fraud and deception," U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss told a news conference after FBI agents across the country arrested 15 ex-players and one of their wives in a three-year conspiracy that authorities say started in 2017.

According to an indictment returned in Manhattan federal court, the ex-players teamed up to defraud the supplemental coverage plan by submitting fraudulent claims to get reimbursed for medical and dental procedures that never happened.

Strauss said prosecutors have travel records, email and GPS data that prove the ex-players were sometimes far from the medical and dental offices at the times when they were supposedly getting treated.

In one instance, she said, an ex-player was playing basketball in Taiwan when he was supposedly getting $48,000 worth of root canals and crowns on eight teeth at a Beverly Hills, California, dental office in December 2018.

The indictment said the scheme was carried out from at least 2017 to 2020, when the plan — funded primarily by NBA teams — received false claims totaling about $3.9 million. Of that, the defendants received about $2.5 million in fraudulent proceeds.

Strauss said each defendant made false claims for reimbursements that ranged from $65,000 to $420,000.

A request for comment to the league wasn't immediately returned.

Michael J. Driscoll, the head of New York's FBI office, said the case demonstrated the FBI's continued focus on uncovering health care fraud scams that cost the health care industry tens of billions of dollars a year.

Strauss said the conspiracy was led by Terrence Williams, who began his career as a first-round NBA draft pick in 2009. The indictment said he submitted $19,000 in fraudulent claims to the plan in November 2017 for chiropractic care. The claims led to a $7,672 payout for Williams.

The indictment said he then recruited other former NBA players to defraud the plan and offered to provide fraudulent invoices from a chiropractor and dentist in Southern California and a wellness office in Washington state.

At least 10 of the ex-players paid kickbacks totaling about $230,000 to Williams, according to the court papers. A lawyer who has represented Williams in the past declined to comment.

What was then the New Jersey Nets picked Williams as No. 11 in the 2009 draft. He went on to play with four franchises — the Nets, Boston, Houston and Sacramento — over four seasons as a role player, averaging 7.1 points per game. He was waived by Boston two days after his 26th birthday in 2013 and hasn’t appeared in the league since.

Among those charged was Tony Allen, a six-time All-Defensive team selection and a member of the 2008 champion Boston Celtics. His wife was also indicted. Notably, Allen is set to have his jersey retired by the Memphis Grizzlies later this season. Tony Allen was not in custody as of Thursday afternoon.

For the most part, though, the ex-players charged had journeyman careers playing for several different teams and never reached anywhere close to the enormous stardom or salary that top players command.

Still, the 18 players combined to make $343 million in their on-court NBA careers, not counting outside income, endorsements or what any may have made playing overseas.

Strauss declined to speculate on their motivations or financial situations, saying to do so would go beyond the facts in the indictment.

Another former player charged in the scheme was Sebastian Telfair, a one-time high school star in New York who was highly touted when he turned pro, though his NBA career with eight franchises never brought the stardom some had expected.

Those charged also included four NBA champions. Glen Davis, along with Allen, was part of that 2008 title team in Boston. Shannon Brown won two championships with the Los Angeles Lakers, and Melvin Ely won a title with San Antonio in 2007.

Among others who were charged, Anthony Wroten, Ruben Patterson and Darius Miles were the only players who averaged double figures for their NBA careers.

Wroten averaged 11.1 points in 145 career games. Patterson averaged 10.7 points per game with six different teams. Miles, the No. 3 pick in the 2000 draft, averaged 10.1 points per game and played with four different franchises.

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal authorities say 18 former NBA players, including a former University of Cincinnati All-American, have been charged with defrauding the league's health and welfare benefit plan out of about $4 million.

A news conference was held Thursday to announce the charges brought in an indictment in Manhattan federal court.

The indictment said the ex-players and a 19th individual engaged in a widespread scheme to defraud the plan by submitting false and fraudulent claims to reimburse medical and dental expenses that were never incurred.

According to the Associated Press, the scheme occurred from at least 2017 to 2020.

The AP reported that the false claims totaled about $3.9 million, with the 19 defendants allegedly received about $2.5 million in fraudulent proceeds.

One of the former NBA players was allegedly Ruben Patterson, who was a Third Team All-American during his time with UC from 1996-1998.

The list of former players also includes Jamario Moon, Glen "Big Baby" Davis, and Sebastian Telfair.

NBC News reported the rest of the defendants include Terrence Williams, Alan Anderson, Anthony Allen, Desiree Allen, Shannon Brown, William Bynum, Christopher Douglas-Roberts, Melvin Ely, Darius Miles, Milton Palacio, Eddie Robinson, Gregory Smith, Charles Watson Jr., Antoine Wright, and Anthony Wroten.

No current major league stars were charged, the AP reported.

The imminent release of a partisan audit into the 2020 election results in Arizona – authorized in March by the GOP state Senate – has pitted elected Republicans against each other.

Stephen Richter was elected in 2020 to help oversee elections in Maricopa County – the state's largest.

"They started to pursue this in what I believe to be an unprofessional manner that will only erode confidence in our elections," Richter said.

He flipped the county recorder's office red in a down-ballot race last November – the same year Donald Trump lost. He initially supported an election audit.

"I'd have to be a doofus not to understand that there's a significant percentage of the party that doesn't have confidence in how the 2020 elections were administered," he said.

But it was the state Senate's selection of Cyber Ninjas to conduct the audit – a Florida-based company with no experience leading election probes and whose CEO has spouted debunked election conspiracy theories – that has caused many prominent Arizona Republicans to distance themselves.

"I'm not anti-audit," Richter continued. "I'm anti-Cyber Ninjas."

One of the theories already floated by associates of Cyber Ninjas is the assertion that tens of thousands of ballots were cast fraudulently for Joe Biden last November – something Richter characterized as "laughable" in a 38-page open letter he sent last week to Arizona Republicans.

Newsy repeatedly reached out to representatives of Arizona's Republican State Senate and was denied interviews with all 16 state Senators.

Contacted directly, Newsy found one Republican state senator who originally supported the audit has turned on an email auto-reply with a letter explaining why he abandoned support for the probe, saying in part: "What's been going on these past few months cannot be called a professional audit."

On the national scale, former President Donald Trump said "the facts are coming out, the truth is being uncovered and the crime of the century is being fully exposed."

But so far, the audit – pitched as a way to restore voter confidence – has fallen short.

Recent state polling by non-partisan pollster OH Predictive Insights, shows just six in 10 voters are extremely or moderately confident in the state's elections.

Former Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett is now the Senate liaison to the Maricopa County audit.

"I want myself, my children, my friends and my family to know that when they participate in an election in Arizona, the results are going to be tabulated accurately,"he said. "Even when the results are close, they can have confidence that they can believe those results."

The audit is still turning heads in other states across the country, especially from far-right voters disaffected with President Biden's win in the 2020 election.

Arizona voter Scott Ziegler said many are still eager for the results of the audit.

"I know people that are in other states that are waiting for this," he said. "This is a big deal."

This story was originally reported on Newsy.com.

CINCINNATI —

Some police departments across Greater Cincinnati are now seeing a surge of identity theft reports linked to unemployment fraud.

People said they're finding out something is wrong when they receive a tax form in the mail.

Officials said there are steps you should take if you find one of those forms in your mailbox.

It's a problem that is unfortunately becoming more common by the day.

One police department we talked with said they had five new identity theft reports linked to unemployment fraud on Wednesday.

"Yeah, it's makes you mad," victim Al said.

Al only wants to use his first name to protect his identity from any further harm but found himself filing a police report for identity theft last week.

He got a 1099-G tax form in the mail for fraudulent unemployment payments but said he hasn't been unemployed at all.

Al said he called the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and waited for more than an hour for help.

"They told me that they were going to put a flag on my account, as far as unemployment benefits go," he said.

He also said he checked with the three credit bureaus and his bank to make sure there wasn't anything suspicious happening there.

ODJFS said it has received 80,000 fraud reports online alone in two weeks.

One police report from our area showed a woman received, "A 1099 from Job and Family Services for collecting $23,000 in unemployment."

Another said a man told police there was a fraudulent claim for $16,000.

ODJFS Director Kim Henderson said the last three months of 2020, there were fraudulent traditional unemployment overpayments worth $2.3 million.

In just December, she said there were fraudulent pandemic unemployment assistance overpayments worth $330 million.

She described a surge when it comes to the 1099-G forms, pointing out that in January 2021, 1.7 million forms were issued compared to about 200,000 forms in January 2020.

"After we receive a report of potential identity theft, we will process the report, issue applicable fraud determinations and if necessary, issue a corrected 1099 form to the IRS," Henderson said.

Attorney General Dave Yost has asked congress to shield people in a scenario like Al's from paying taxes on the fraudulent funds, as more people catch on to the crime.

"I wanted to know who did it. I wanted to know how they did it. Who put the check in their hand or what address did it go to? And they couldn't help me," he said.

ODJFS said if this happens to you, you should report it immediately.

You can use a new online portal to address unemployment fraud by visiting unemployment.ohio.gov.

You can also call the new ID Theft Hotline at 1-833-658-0394.

Officials said you can file your taxes without the erroneous 1099-G form.

They also said you should take steps to protect your identity.

ODJFS recommends people take the following steps if you feel like you may be a fraud victim:

• Visiting the ODJFS unemployment website and click 'Report identity theft'
• Accessing the ODJFS fraud page at jfs.ohio.gov/fraud [jfs.ohio.gov] and clicking on the “Unemployment Insurance Claimant” button, which will take the victim to an online form to fill out
• Calling 1-800-686-1555 and pressing Option 1.
• Faxing information to 1-614-752-4808.
• Or sending ODJFS an email to ucbenprotest@jfs.ohio.gov.

If you are determined to be a victim of fraud:

• Follow all the steps above to alert ODJFS
• Review your credit report and place an initial fraud alert on your credit file
• File a police report
• File your taxes

CINCINNATI —

A former Cincinnati mayoral candidate is facing federal charges in a pandemic relief fraud scheme.

Investigators said Kelli Prather received nearly $20,000 of the more than $600,000 in relief she applied for.

Federal investigators are warning people who are tempted to defraud the system that they are watching it closely.

They said Prather is part of their fourth round of fraud cases in our region.

"I'm not the career politician. I'm not the party favorite. I'm the person who represents the people," Kelli Prather said during a 2020 interview.

She was in the spotlight running for Hamilton County Commission in 2020.

Prather was more recently running for mayor of Cincinnati, a city plagued with federal corruption cases.

"The reason I decided to jump into the mayoral's race is because all of the problems that I have discussed in the past," Prather said during a 2021 interview about the race.

Now, she is accused by federal investigators of taking part in pandemic relief fraud.

"The program benefits were designed to provide a lifeline, to cover payroll. Instead, the funds are being used for something else entirely," Acting U.S. Attorney Vipal Patel said.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Prather applied for six paycheck protection program loans claiming to own six businesses.

The feds started digging in September 2020, according to documents WLWT reviewed, and they found the businesses did not appear operational.

They said Prather wanted more than $600,000 in relief funds and fraudulently received nearly $20,000.

Officials said Fifth Third Bank found discrepancies and declined to fund more.

Documents show one of Prather's loan applications listed one employee who made $19,862 a month, but supporting documentation showed only $1,500 a year in income.

"The charged defendants used these funds in various ways, but there was a lot of personal use going on," Patel said.

Investigators allege Prather pocketed money and used it at salons and restaurants.

Some of the purchases outlined in the federal complaint documents include stops at Dollar General, City Gear, Kroger and Juicy Crab.

The documents show Prather claimed her businesses were legitimate, but that she admitted some expenses were personal.

Federal officials warn that they are watching these programs closely.

"If they don't stop, they continue on, we're going to come knocking," Patel said.

Prather faces charges including bank fraud, aggravated identity theft and making false statements.

She declined to comment.

Three other people from our area were also charged in separate pandemic relief fraud schemes.

Federal officials said Toni Wright, 34, from Cincinnati, allegedly received $349,000 in fraudulent PPP relief loans.

They said she made false statements at the purported sole owner of Poshedbar, a hair and nail salon, Beautiful Beginnings Doula Service and Jerry's Electronics.

Investigators said Wright used the money for restaurants, purchases at Michael Kors, Louis Vuitton, Kay Jewelers and for vacations.

They also said Wright spent more than $10,000 at Sono Bello, a facility that advertises laser liposuction and body contouring.

Wright faces charges including bank fraud, wire fraud, making false statements and false representation of a social security number.

Officials said Melissa McGhee, 37, from Cincinnati, allegedly received $186,000 in fraudulent relief funds, which she used, in part, to purchase real estate.

Investigators said she allegedly lied about an FHA loan for a new home.

They said she applied for seven different pandemic relief loans and received three.

According to investigators, McGhee used the business names M&MM Realty Group and M&M Realty Group to submit fraudulent applications.

She faces charges including bank fraud, committing fraud in connection with a major disaster or emergency benefits and wire fraud.

Federal officials said Jon Alan Bader, 50, from Dayton, allegedly received more than $120,000 in fraudulent pandemic relief funds by lying on applications.

They said he registered the business, JB Auto Wholesale, LLC, with the state of Ohio in June 2020, after the cutoff eligibility date for the loans.

Investigators said he spent the relief money on Door Dash, Uber, apparel at Puma, Lacoste and Saks, and travel.

He faces charges including bank fraud, wire fraud and making false statements.

CINCINNATI — Monique Colbert of Westwood got the bug to get better nutrition into the bodies of her friends and neighbors a couple of years before the health scare called COVID-19 hit, inspired to switch from baking to juicing as she was taking care of her sick mother.

“I felt bad about giving a lot of the sweets and things away," Colbert said. "I felt like it wasn’t good for people… especially in our community where we got a lot of food deserts and things like that, and people not getting a lot of fruits and vegetables and healthy organic items and things like that so... I was juicing for myself and then other people just started asking if I would juice for them.”

But Colbert’s side-hustle “juicing” fruits and vegetables has all but stalled after scammers hacked her unemployment benefits.

Colbert told WCPO she lost her primary job in customer service for the medical field in March, and it appears the website she went to in order to apply for unemployment benefits was fake.

Provided

“On June 1, I went to go look, and it said that it was paid out, and I kept going, 'Paid out where?'" Colbert said. "So I kept checking my account. I’m like it’s not in my account."

Colbert is one of thousands defrauded amid the pandemic in Ohio who have little recourse.

“They’re just saying that ‘Hey you know you got hacked and there’s really nothing else we can do,’” Colbert said.

Colbert was directed to file a fraud complaint with the FBI, and now she must wait to see if agents can locate the fraudsters who are likely in other countries.

Ironically, Colbert says the $3,000 she had stolen from her would have been enough to buy her “dream juicer” and get her closer to her dream career of juicing full time.

Instead, as Colbert looks for other work, she is churning out what juice she can from a small machine, hard pressed to recover the money meant to help her. But, she's hopeful.

“There’s still hope for that and everything," Colbert said. "It’s just making me have to look at things differently and find other ways to get it done. I know I’m not the only one. I’m just wondering why is that OK? Why is it OK for us to lose such a big chunk of money like that and people walk away with it, and there’s nothing else that we can do?”

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services issued a warning in April about two particular fraudulent websites that look just like the state’s (ohio-gov.com and ohio.gov). The State of Ohio’s actual unemployment website is jfs.ohio.gov and the state has issued these warnings:

To avoid potential fraud Ohioans should:

• Ignore all unsolicited text messages and never click on hyperlinks in emails or text messages that look suspicious.

• Log in each week to your account and review personal information such as physical address, email address, and banking information.

• Remember that ODJFS will not contact you to ask for your username or password.

If individuals notice a change in their account information, they should:

• Report immediately by calling 833-658-0394. ODJFS will then work with you to verify your identity and provide you with next steps, such as changing your Personal Identification Number (PIN) and reporting the theft to law enforcement.

ODJFS officials have said they are continuing to work closely with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General and the FBI’s Cyber Crime Unit to stop fraudulent activities and find the criminals behind them.

If you need help with your unemployment benefits and are willing to go on camera, email Julie O'Neill at joneill@wcpo.com.