{"id":1841233,"date":"2023-02-09T13:05:47","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T18:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1841233"},"modified":"2023-02-09T13:07:10","modified_gmt":"2023-02-09T18:07:10","slug":"watchdogs-say-unemployment-fraud-likely-topped-191-billion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watchdogs-say-unemployment-fraud-likely-topped-191-billion\/","title":{"rendered":"Watchdogs Say Unemployment Fraud Likely Topped $191 Billion"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwatchdogs-say-unemployment-fraud-likely-topped-191-billion%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1841233&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47-->\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/2023.02.08-08.16-thepoliticalinsider-63e4033994673.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\"   style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p><em>By Brett Rowland (The Center Square).<\/em><\/p>\n<p>A little more than 1 out of every 5 dollars distributed during the pandemic in unemployment insurance payments could have been fraudulent, mostly fraud.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Larry Turner, the inspector general for the U.S. Department of Labor, said Wednesday that of the more than\u00a0$888 billion in total federal and state unemployment insurance benefits distributed during the pandemic at\u00a0least $191 billion could have been improper payments, \u201cwith a significant portion attributable to fraud.\u201d Turner addressed members of House Ways and Means Committee during an hearing. That\u2019s up from a previous estimate of $163 billion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe reliance solely on claimant self-certifications without evidence of eligibility and wages during the program\u2019s first nine months rendered the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program extremely susceptible to fraud,\u201d He said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/thepoliticalinsider.com\/ig-reports-historic-400-billion-in-covid-unemployment-funds-lost-to-fraud-waste\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">IG Reports \u2018Historic\u2019 $400 Billion in COVID unemployed funds lost to fraud and waste<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Pandemic Unemployment Assistance provided unemployment insurance benefits for people who were not traditionally eligible, such as gig workers and self-employed workers.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Department of Labor oversees the administration of unemployment insurance by states. The joint federal-state program has been in place for over eight decades and serves as a safety net to people who lose their jobs due to no fault of their own. An assortment of factors contributed to an increase in fraudulent payments and improper payments when the pandemic struck. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oig.dol.gov\/public\/reports\/oa\/2022\/19-22-006-03-315.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2022 audit<\/a> found that\u00a0fraudulent claims were paid 60.5% of the time\u00a0from March 28, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2020.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis created multiple high-reward targets where an individual could make a fraudulent claim with relatively low risk of being caught,\u201d Turner said. \u201cFor example, as time went on, one fraudster could have been issued several UI debit cards, with tens of thousands of dollars on each card.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Turner used the example of Turner who cited Turner as an example. Turner said that a person filed a claim using a three-bedroom house, which was also shared with 90 other claims. This same person also shared an email address with 145 claims. That person was involved in 235 additional claims in three states. The person also got benefits on 87 of these claims. California paid $1,569.762. California stopped payment 164 days after the\u00a0initial payment when officials were unable to verify the person\u2019s identity, according to that 2022 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oig.dol.gov\/public\/reports\/oa\/2022\/19-22-006-03-315.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Audit<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"subscribe\" class=\"email-signup inarticle\">\n<h4>Support Conservative Voices!<\/h4>\n<h5><strong>Get the most recent news by signing up<\/strong> Your inbox receives political news, commentary, and insight directly.<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<p>Part of the problem was caused by the nature of crisis. The pandemic and governments\u2019 response to it put millions of people out of work in a matter of weeks. Unemployment levels rose to\u00a0historic levels. The Department of Labor reported 282,000 first unemployment claims on March 14, 2020. Initial claims rose by 100% in just a few weeks. \u201cfar higher than state systems were designed to handle,\u201d Turner wrote <a href=\"https:\/\/\/Users\/fnf-brettrowland\/Downloads\/DOL%20OIG%20IG%20Turner%20Written%20Testimony%20HWM%20_Final%2002062023.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Testimony<\/a>. The Department of Labor reported 57.4 Million Initial Claims in just five months. This is the highest number of initial claims since 1967, when the agency started tracking unemployment insurance data.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The pandemic was not preceded by problems with the unemployment insurance program. Turner claimed that the program was among the most inept payment rates in the federal government. For 15 of the 19 previous years, it had been higher than 10%. The agency estimates that the improper payment rate has been 18.71% and 21.52% in the past two years.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thepoliticalinsider.com\/how-much-pandemic-aid-was-lost-to-fraud-answer-still-impossible-to-estimate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What Was the Pandemic Aid Fraud Lost? Answer Still \u2018Impossible to Estimate\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Gene Dodaro, the Comptroller General United States of America, stated that although some improvements have been made in order to combat frauds, there is still much to do.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we\u2019re slightly better prepared, but not fully prepared for the next crisis,\u201d He said. \u201cA number of our recommendations at the Labor Department have been not fully implemented yet. I think states are trying to make improvements \u2013 there have been some improvements that have been made, but they\u2019ve all be ad hoc. There hasn\u2019t been a systematic approach to doing this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He stated that while the government should try to recover as much fraud possible, prevention would be more effective.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe only way to effectively deal with this is to prevent it up front,\u201d\u00a0Dodaro said.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Horowitz, chairman of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, told the\u00a0House Ways and Means Committee that the fraud was not limited to U.S. residents.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the biggest challenges we have is following the fraud through overseas gang activity and fraudsters,\u201d Horowitz said. \u201cThe Secret Service has reported that they\u2019ve seen that occur through entities in Nigeria, China, Russia. That will be our biggest challenge.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Rep. Vern Bucanan (Republican from Florida) asked for an estimate on the cost of this fraud to U.S. taxpayers.<\/p>\n<p>Horowitz denied that such an estimate was possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s among the hardest fraud to find, track and figure out,\u201d He said. \u201cBecause it is through overseas networks \u2026 the process is very challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Syndicated with permission of The Center Square<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Brett Rowland (The Center Square). A little more than 1 out of every 5 dollars distributed during the pandemic in unemployment insurance payments could have been fraudulent, mostly fraud.\u00a0 Larry Turner, the inspector general for the U.S. Department of Labor, said Wednesday that of the more than\u00a0$888 billion in total federal and state unemployment &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1841236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[18177,6909,18176,4846,10378],"class_list":["post-1841233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report","tag-18177","tag-fraud","tag-topped","tag-unemployment","tag-watchdogs"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1841233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1841233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1841233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1841236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1841233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1841233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1841233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}