Criminals Stealing Unemployment Benefits as Claims Surge
7th June 2020
It is a truth universally acknowledge that when the government hands out ‘free’ money a lot of it will get stolen.
While there’s no exact measure of how many fraudulent claims have been made, states from Washington to Maine say they’ve seen an increase and numerous federal agencies are working to fight it.
“About 10% of (unemployment insurance) payments are improper under the best of times, and we are in the worst of times,” Scott Dahl, the inspector general for the U.S. Labor Department, told the House Subcommittee on Government Operations. Dahl estimated that at least $26 billion in benefits could be wasted, with the bulk of that going to fraudsters.
This forces unemployed workers, already reeling from the loss of a job, to fight for the benefits they need and are entitled to.