FOX Business’ Blake Burman on Unemployment Fraud Increasing During Coronavirus Pandemic.
According to new data, a significant portion of the unemployment benefits for Americans stolen during the coronavirus pandemic could be stolen by fraudsters.
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ID.me, a computer security firm that verifies worker identities in 19 states, about 75% of the national population, finds that more than $ 200 billion in federal aid to unemployed Americans has been packed by fraud. The finding is more than triple the official government estimate of $ 63 billion, based on the 10% pre-pandemic fraud rate.
The firm notes that about 20% of fraud is linked to broken personal data, up to 10% is through social engineering, and 2.5% is linked to facial matching, where a criminal tries to wear a mask, video or image of the victim. Up to 30% of claims under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which offers benefits to self-employed Americans and contractors, are fraudulent, according to ID.me.
An ID.me spokesperson did not immediately return FOX Business’s request for comment.
The American Enterprise Institute estimates that $ 200 billion could make unemployment fraud the fourth largest “spending program” during the pandemic, behind the Paycheck Protection Program, total unemployment benefits and stimulus controls.
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States targeted by fraudsters with some of the highest unemployment benefits per week include California, Washington and Massachusetts.
California officials confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that $ 11.4 billion in unemployment benefits paid during the COVID-19 pandemic involves fraud – about 10% of the benefits paid – while another 17% are being investigated for possible fraud.
Meanwhile, fraud losses in Washington are expected to total $ 600 million by June 2020, amounting to 122,000 known or suspected fraudulent claims, according to a report from the Washington State Auditor’s Office.
In Massachusetts, according to the Department of Unemployment Aid, by February, an estimated $ 687 million will be paid for fraudulent claims.
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According to the impartial committee for a responsible federal budget, lawmakers have committed $ 486 billion in unemployment benefit funding since the start of the pandemic.
The recent $ 1.8 billion US bailout plan is responsible for $ 209 billion in unemployment benefits. Approximately $ 94.3 billion has been committed to expanding eligibility under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program.
The committee estimates the total legislative funding committed to address COVID-19 has been about $ 3.12 billion since the pandemic began.
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The announcement comes as 770,000 Americans first filed unemployment claims in the week ended March 13, higher than the 700,000 forecast of Refinitiv economists.
Weekly unemployment claims have remained high for months and are four times higher than the typical level before the crisis, although it was well below the peak of almost 7 million reached when home stay orders were first issued in March a year ago. There are about 9.5 million fewer jobs than last year in February before the crisis began.
Ongoing claims, or the number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits in succession, dropped to 4.244 million, a decrease of 18,000 compared to the previous week. The report shows that approximately 18,216 million Americans collected unemployment benefits for the week ending February 27, a decrease of 1.9 million compared to the previous week.
Fox Business’ Megan Henney Contributed to This Report