Fraudsters already netted hundreds of millions of dollars nationwide.
National Fraud Ring Hits Massachusetts
Members may see a delay in receiving their unemployment benefits.
Many of us may have seen the recent news from the Mass Department of Unemployment regarding a massive fraud against state unemployment insurance programs. A national scheme to exploit loopholes in the federal coronavirus unemployment program has already netted fraudsters hundreds of millions in stolen dollars and has now struck Massachusetts’ unemployment system.
Organized crime rings are using stolen personal information from earlier data breaches to file “large amounts” of illegitimate unemployment claims in Massachusetts, according to the Department of Unemployment Assistance. Additional identity verification measures intended to root out fraudulent claims temporarily delayed many unemployment payments this week, according to the DUA. Governor Baker has since stated that the majority of those checks have now made their way into the pockets of Massachusetts’ jobless.
“The vast majority of those (payments) went out once we ran the tests and determined they were in fact legitimate,” Baker said Thursday during a visit to UMass Lowell’s Fabric Discovery Center. For those still awaiting payment, Baker said people “shouldn’t be alarmed” and that payments for all legitimate claims will be processed.
Baker said about 150,000 unemployment claims were run through a third-party data check and that “somewhere in the vicinity of 145,000 of those claims passed.” The other 5,000 or so will go through additional levels of review to root out any fraudulent claims.
Anyone who believes their identity was used to file a false unemployment claim is urged to report it online at mass.gov/unemployment-fraud or to call the DUA customer service department at 877-626-6800.
Source: MassLive