NEW YORK - A New York man has been charged with fraud after dressing up as his dead mother so he could collect more than 100,000 US dollars in welfare benefits, prosecutors said.

Thomas Parkin, 49, and accomplice Mhilton Rimolo, 47, face a 47-count indictment for collecting social security benefits amounting to 52,000 dollars and 65,000 dollars in rental assistance, according to Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes.

"These defendants ran a multi-year campaign of fraud that was unparalleled in its scope and brazenness," Hynes said in a statement Wednesday.

Prosecutors said the pair doctored Parkin's deceased mother's death certificate and provided a false Social Security number.

Parkin dressed in drag to impersonate 77-year-old Irene Prusik and visit the local Department of Motor Vehicles office to renew her driver's license.

As part of a separate probe into irregularities in the Brooklyn property in Prusik's name, Parkin and Rimolo arranged a meeting between investigators and the older woman.

When prosecutors and detectives arrived, they found Parkin wearing a red cardigan, lipstick and manicured nails.

"I held my mother when she was dying and breathed in her last breath, so I am my mother," Parkin reportedly told authorities during his arrest, CNN reported, citing a law enforcement source.

Bail for the pair was set at one million dollars each, CNN said. If convicted, they could face up to 25 years in prison.