A Pennsylvania resident has been charged with seven counts of wire fraud for allegedly attempting to defraud the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) program in 2022.
According to court documents, Adepoju Babatunde Salako, 33, of Philadelphia, is accused of obtaining personal identifying information belonging to legitimate Alaskan residents and using it to submit fraudulent PFD applications. Authorities allege that Salako created new email accounts under his control for each individual whose information he acquired. He then reportedly accessed at least seven existing “myAlaska” online accounts, which are used by Alaska residents to apply for their annual PFD payments.
Once inside these accounts, Salako is alleged to have changed contact and banking information so that communications and funds would be directed to him. To conceal his identity and location, Salako allegedly used a Virtual Private Network (VPN) so that six of the application submissions appeared to originate from Alaska-based Internet Protocol addresses; one was submitted from an IP address in Philadelphia. Records from Salako’s personal email account showed logins from the same Philadelphia IP address.
The State of Alaska identified the applications as fraudulent and denied them.
Salako faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for each count if convicted. Sentencing will be determined by a federal district court judge according to U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
“U.S. Attorney Michael J. Heyman of the District of Alaska, Special Agent in Charge Rebecca Day of the FBI Anchorage Field Office and Acting Commissioner Janelle Earls of the Alaska Department of Revenue made the announcement.”
The investigation was conducted by the FBI Anchorage Field Office and the State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s Criminal Investigations Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ainsley McNerney is prosecuting the case.
Anyone who suspects they may have been a victim of PFD fraud can file an online tip at https://pfd.alaska.gov/fraud-tip-form or call the Fraud Hotline at (907) 500-0360.
