4 ms·

Half of the pandemic's unemployment money may have been stolen

11 points by throwkeep 5y ago

cool_dude85 5y ago
So the author of the article was told by Blake Hall, who runs a company that tries to prevent the kind of fraud he's hyping up.
- ktsmith 5y ago
  You aren't wrong to be skeptical of the author/purpose of the article but the claims that are being made are very likely to be true. I have a friend in my states unemployment office and another friend in a different states department of labor. Both have been complaining about the rampant, and obvious, fraud for months. Early in the pandemic someone tried to file a claim in my wifes name and it was shut down during employment verification but the federal funds may have been sent anyway.
sparrish 5y ago
My wife received a prepaid visa in the mail from the state for unemployment benefits. It was in her maiden name but she never requested unemployment benefits. When I contacted the state about it, they had an automated system with a recording for the fraud department saying they were dealing with an overwhelming number of fraud reports and to leave a message. It's been several months and I never heard back from them. Yeah, I can believe that 1/2 the pandemic money was stolen.
- BeFlatXIII 5y ago
  Someone made an unemployment claim for my grandma, who has been dead for a decade (and was a stay-at-home [grand]mother since the Korean War before then). Why did the states have zero common sense verifications that the claim was in the name of a citizen who is still alive?
  - lumberingjack 5y ago
    I feel like the Democratic party has constantly pushed back and fought against any type of new identification forms. No identification to get benefits no identification to vote
lumberingjack 5y ago
So if they can't handle my tax money that I worked really really hard for why would I trust them to count votes in an election?
etc-hosts 5y ago
Felix Salmon's article is a bunch of hot air. He even quotes a source who quotes... Felix Salmon https://discourseblog.com/felix-salmon-unemployment-fraud-axios/ https://discourseblog.com/felix-salmon-unemployment-fraud-ax...

11 points by throwkeep 5y ago

So the author of the article was told by Blake Hall, who runs a company that tries to prevent the kind of fraud he's hyping up.

ktsmith 5y ago
You aren't wrong to be skeptical of the author/purpose of the article but the claims that are being made are very likely to be true. I have a friend in my states unemployment office and another friend in a different states department of labor. Both have been complaining about the rampant, and obvious, fraud for months. Early in the pandemic someone tried to file a claim in my wifes name and it was shut down during employment verification but the federal funds may have been sent anyway.

sparrish 5y ago

My wife received a prepaid visa in the mail from the state for unemployment benefits. It was in her maiden name but she never requested unemployment benefits. When I contacted the state about it, they had an automated system with a recording for the fraud department saying they were dealing with an overwhelming number of fraud reports and to leave a message. It's been several months and I never heard back from them. Yeah, I can believe that 1/2 the pandemic money was stolen.

BeFlatXIII 5y ago
Someone made an unemployment claim for my grandma, who has been dead for a decade (and was a stay-at-home [grand]mother since the Korean War before then). Why did the states have zero common sense verifications that the claim was in the name of a citizen who is still alive?
- lumberingjack 5y ago
  I feel like the Democratic party has constantly pushed back and fought against any type of new identification forms. No identification to get benefits no identification to vote

lumberingjack 5y ago

So if they can't handle my tax money that I worked really really hard for why would I trust them to count votes in an election?

etc-hosts 5y ago

Felix Salmon's article is a bunch of hot air. He even quotes a source who quotes... Felix Salmon https://discourseblog.com/felix-salmon-unemployment-fraud-axios/ https://discourseblog.com/felix-salmon-unemployment-fraud-ax...