Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
States Discover Massive Fraud in Unemployment Claims
Countless Americans have found themselves suddenly jobless and counting on unemployment insurance payments, but massive fraud has been revealed across multiple states, totaling millions, if not billions of taxpayer dollars. Gov. Hogan of Maryland noticed a massive influx of “out-of-state” claims during the pandemic. In an effort to get relief to the citizens of his state, claims were being processed and expedited at a rapid rate, but there was clearly something wrong. They discovered $501 million dollars in fraudulent claims along with growing evidence that the sophisticated efforts involved stealing the personal information of citizens and could possibly be national and even international in origin.
Now twelve other states are also investigating, and the number is growing.
According to the governor, the scheme was detected over the July Fourth weekend when the Maryland Department of Labor noticed a spike in out-of-state Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims. The agency immediately froze all out-of-state accounts and ultimately blocked payment to more than 47,500 bogus claims totaling $501 million.