In one of the major scams related to social security, a Minnesota woman has been sentenced to prison. She has been posing as her deceased mother for more than two decades and has been fraudulently collecting Social Security benefits.
Mavious Redmond is 54 years old and is a resident of Austin, Minnesota. On August 21, 2025, she was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison for stealing nearly $361,000 from Social Security. She had stolen this money over a 25-year period.
The US Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota states that Redmond began her deception in January 1999. This was just after her mother’s death, and it went on until June 2024, as per The Mirror.
Prosecutors claimed that Redmond was using her late mother’s personal information to keep claiming retirement benefits. This included her birthdate and Social Security number.
To keep up the ruse, she went above and beyond. She filled out official forms under her mother’s identity and also impersonated her during phone calls. She dressed up like her mother during in-person visits to Social Security Administration (SSA) offices.
Austin woman sentenced after posing as dead mother for 25 years in Social Security scam
Mavious Redmond posed as her deceased mother for decades and collected $360,000 in benefits. pic.twitter.com/M2zLANl28S
— Alpha News (@AlphaNewsMN) August 22, 2025
Redmond had even asked SSA officials whether her mother’s benefits would end upon death.
Redmond was informed that since she was her mother’s official caretaker, it was her responsibility to inform when her mother passed away. However, she ignored the directive and continued to collect payments.
Authorities have estimated that Redmond has unlawfully obtained $360,627 in Social Security Retirement Insurance Benefits. Along with this, $3,200 in COVID-19 Economic Impact Payments had also been deposited into her late mother’s account.
U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson had severely condemned Redmond’s actions. He has also emphasized that her long-running con was not a victimless crime.
“Redmond’s scheme was brazen and shameless,” Thompson said in a statement. “This wasn’t free money. It was taxpayer money, stolen from a program built on the hard work of Minnesotans who paid in every paycheck.”
Minnesota woman pleads guilty to decades-long Social Security fraud scheme
Mavious Redmond of Austin, MN, impersonated her deceased mother for years in order to collect Social Security benefits over $360,000 that were intended for her mother.
👇https://t.co/6ysXa6ISEy— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) April 16, 2025
Once her prison term is over, Redmond will be placed under supervised release for one year.
However, Redmond’s defense attorney, Robert Meyers has argued that the fraud on her part came from dissolution and not greed. He has claimed that Redmond was in difficult circumstances.
Court documents state that Redmond lived with her parents her entire life. Once her mother passed away, she was left all alone without any family or support.
While Redmond was claiming her mother’s social security benefits, she was also working at Subway and earning just $8 an hour. She also relied on local food pantries for sustenance.
Her attorney characterised the fraud as “a crime of opportunity born of desperation.” He has stressed that she did not use the money to live extravagantly.
Austin woman who posed as deceased mother pleads guilty in 25-year Social Security fraud scheme https://t.co/lQOIFiJOlJ
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota, Mavious Redmond, 54, collected her deceased mother’s Social Security retirement benefits
— SmokeyGirl25 (@_SmokeyGirl25) April 16, 2025
Redmond had also managed to secure a part-time job at McDonald’s, but that was after her conviction. She then lost her job when her employer learned about it.
In June 2024, she moved to the Twin Cities area. There she stayed in a homeless shelter and then began working as a housing stabilisation advocate while actively seeking new
employment.
“All of this demonstrates Ms. Redmond’s commitment to doing things the right way and turning her life around,” Meyers said. “She is in a good position to learn from her mistakes and to get the help she needs so that she never makes those mistakes again.”
Another one! Mavious Redmond of Minnesota stole $360K of her dead mother’s social security benefits over a span of 25 years. https://t.co/RIq7wyOF7i
— MissMAGA2016 (@MissMaga2016) August 22, 2025
This case is an example of both the seriousness of Social Security fraud and the personal struggles that push someone to commit it. Prosecutors insisted on accountability for the stolen taxpayer funds. However, the defence urged the court to see Redmond as someone capable of rebuilding her life.
As Redmond begins her prison term, her story underscores the tension between justice, accountability, and rehabilitation in cases of financial fraud.
