By Fraud, $45.6 Billion in US Pandemic Unemployment Insurance Was Stolen, Says Labor Dept. IG
Criminals have fraudulently stolen $45.6 billion in unemployment benefits from U.S. government programs meant to assist Americans who lost their jobs during the pandemic.
The federal government started an unemployment aid program in March 2020 during the early days of the pandemic.
The hundreds of billions in pandemic aid immediately attracted criminals, who exploited the federal assistance program.
The scammers applied common tactics, such as the illegal use of Social Security numbers of those not eligible for unemployment insurance, between March 2020 and April 2022, according to a report released on Sept. 22 by the Department of Labor’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG)….