Social Security Employee Pleads Guilty to Stealing Benefits

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Georgia

ATLANTA - Christina Daniels, a former employee of the Social Security Administration, pled guilty yesterday in federal court to theft of government property and aggravated identity theft.

“As an employee of the Social Security Administration, Daniels was entrusted with access to millions of beneficiaries’ personally identifiable information. She abused that trust by accessing sensitive information and using it to steal from the very people she was hired to serve,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. “Our office is dedicated to rooting out this type of fraud and prosecuting such offenses to the fullest extent of the law.”

“Social Security Administration (SSA) employees are entrusted in serving the people - not abusing their important position by stealing money from the people that they are meant to serve to line their own pockets,” said Michelle L. Anderson, Assistant Inspector General for Audit performing the duties of the Inspector General. “This fraudulent direct deposit diversion is intolerable behavior; we will hold each SSA employee accountable who chooses to violate our nation’s trust for their personal gain.”

According to U.S. Attorney Hertzberg, the charges, and other information presented in court: Between January 2023 to May 2024, Christina Daniels used her position at the Social Security Administration office in Norcross, Georgia, to change the direct deposit information for approximately 28 beneficiaries. As a customer service representative, Daniels was able to make changes to beneficiaries’ direct deposit information. Daniels abused this authority to steal more than $110,000.

She accomplished her theft by first opening Green Dot and Cash App accounts using personally identifiable information belonging to unwitting Social Security beneficiaries. After she created the new accounts, she changed the direct deposit information of the unsuspecting beneficiaries to one of the newly opened Green Dot or Cash App accounts that she controlled. 

An internal investigation was launched after several retirement beneficiaries reported that they had not received their monthly benefit payments. Subsequent internal and law enforcement investigations revealed that Daniels had changed the direct deposit information for approximately 28 beneficiaries and that she redirected the benefits to accounts that she opened using the stolen PII of other beneficiaries – some of whom were her family members.

Daniels, 47, of Winder, Georgia, pled guilty to one count of theft of government money, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, and one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory consecutive sentence of two years of imprisonment. In determining the actual sentence, the court will consider the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which are not binding but provide appropriate sentencing ranges for most offenders.

Sentencing is scheduled for a future date before United States District Judge J.P. Boulee.

This case is being investigated by the Social Security Administration - Office of the Inspector General. Special Assistant United States Attorney Diane C. Schulman is prosecuting the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6185. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.