A federal court in Seattle sentenced a 36-year-old Carnation, Washington, man to three years in prison on Oct. 5 for wire fraud, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to the Labor Department's Office of Inspector General. Tyler Lee Berens pleaded guilty in July. The case combined pandemic benefit fraud with an attempt to take over a dead man's estate.
Prosecutors say that from 2020 Berens filed false pandemic unemployment claims in 19 states and collected $148,206 from six of them, and also got a $17,500 Paycheck Protection Program loan. Starting about two years later, they say he posed as the authorized agent of a deceased elderly Seattle resident and tried to take over the home, bank accounts and a stock portfolio, in total more than half a million dollars.
The release says he sent a real estate agent a forged power of attorney and accepted an offer on the house, until the victim's niece was alerted and reported it. He then accessed the victim's bank accounts and got a debit card. After fraud restrictions were added, he emailed while impersonating the dead victim to try to lift them. He also tried to move money from the victim's brokerage accounts and to liquidate over $235,000 of stock.
For families settling an estate, the case shows why to notify banks, brokerages and credit bureaus of a death promptly and to be careful with who holds paperwork such as a power of attorney, which ends at death. The release does not offer a checklist, so check with a probate attorney or the institutions involved about their own procedures.