A 54-year-old woman faces federal fraud charges after allegedly embezzling $360,000 in Social Security payments over 25 years by pretending to be her dead mother.

Mavious Redmond of Austin faces three counts of wire fraud, one count of theft of government funds and one of aggravated identity theft for pretending to be her mother since the older woman died in January 1999.

Investigators claim Redmond didn't notify the Social Security Administration after her mother died. According to court documents, at one point Redmond asked Social Security officials questions about how to terminate her mother's benefits in the event she died.

Court records say Redmond continued accessing money in her mother's accounts after she died, at times allegedly impersonating her mother over the years to continue drawing monthly retirement payments. In November 2023, she phoned the Social Security office trying to switch her mother's address to her home in Austin.

Redmond came under suspicion in June 2024 after she allegedly twice visited the Social Security Administration office in Austin while impersonating her mother and trying to get a new Social Security card for her. According to court documents, Redmond provided an expired insurance card, birth certificate and a letter from Social Security officials addressed to her mother.

Redmond faces an arraignment hearing in March.