Security News > 2021 > February > How $100M in Jobless Claims Went to Inmates

That's a tiny share of the estimated tens of billions of dollars in jobless benefits states have given to identity thieves in the past year.

A new report from the Labor Department's Office of Inspector General found that from March through October of 2020, some $3.5 billion in fraudulent jobless benefits - nearly two-thirds of the phony claims it reviewed - was paid out to individuals with Social Security numbers filed in multiple states.

Just one state - California - disclosed last month that hackers, identity thieves and overseas criminal rings stole more than $11 billion in jobless benefits from the state last year.

Bloomberg Law reports that in response to a flood of jobless claims that exploit the lack of information sharing among states, the Labor Dept.

Urged the states to use a federally funded hub designed to share applicant data and detect fraudulent claims filed in more than one state.

With such a high percentage of jobless claims now being filed by identity thieves, many states have instituted new fraud filters that ended up rejecting or delaying millions of legitimate claims.

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https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/02/how-100m-in-jobless-claims-went-to-inmates/