June 2, 2022

Last week Larry Scroggins was indicted by a Florida
Federal grand jury in connection with an attempt to fraudulently divert Permanent Fund
Dividends (PFD) from eligible Alaskans.
PFD Division staff received complaints from multiple Alaskans they had received an
automated email from the PFD Division advising them of a deposit change on the PFD
application that they hadn’t initiated. Alaskan victims had noted that an unknown actor
had changed the Direct Deposit information of their PFD application without their
permission or consent. In all these changes, the direct deposit was switched from a
brick-and-mortar bank to a refillable bank card.
The complaint was forwarded to the Alaska Department of Revenue, Criminal
Investigations Unit (DOR-CIU), the agency responsible for investigating allegations of
PFD fraud. DOR-CIU Investigators travelled to Florida, and with the assistance of the
Broward Sherriff’s Office, Sunrise Police SWAT, Department of Law Office of Inspector
General, U.S. Secret Service, and Department of Homeland Security, a search warrant
was executed on Scroggins’ residence.
Mr. Scroggins was indicted for one count of Use of Unauthorized Access Devices (18
U.S.C. § 1029(a)(2)), one count of Possession of Fifteen or More Unauthorized Access
Devices (18 U.S.C. § 1029(a)(3)), and seven counts of Aggravated Identity Theft (18
U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1)). Federal law requires a two year sentence for each conviction of
Aggravated Identity Theft not to be served concurrently. If convicted, Scroggins could
face 14 years to 34 years in Federal prison in addition to significant fines.
These charges are only allegations and are not evidence of guilt. Mr. Scroggins is
presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the prosecutor must prove guilt
beyond a reasonable doubt.
Commissioner Lucinda Mahoney thanks the CIU team for their work on this. “This is just
one example of CIU’s dedication to handling difficult cybercrimes to protect Alaskans. I
also want to ensure the public that PFD was not breached, that these bad actors were
able to make these changes because they already had the individuals’ personally
identifiable information,” stated Commissioner Mahoney.
“PFD fraud is a very serious crime and those looking to take advantage of Alaskans will
face consequences to the fullest extent of the law,” stated PFD Director Genevieve
Wojtusik. “Alaskans who want to protect themselves from becoming victims are
reminded to change their password regularly, not reuse passwords such as those used
for your email or social media accounts, to log in to your myPFD account and ensure
that your application is in ‘eligible’ status and that all of your information is correct prior
to the October distribution to ensure that key fields such your address and direct deposit
information have not been changed by a bad actor.”