Billions paid in phony unemployment claims in 2020, Labor IG reports -- GCN
By Natalie Alms Feb 25, 2021 Of the $400 billion in CARES Act unemployment benefits distributed last year, states paid over $5.4 billion in potentially fraudulent unemployment claims between March and October of 2020, according to the Department of Labor’s inspector general. The actual number may reach tens of billions of dollars, the watchdog said. In California alone, at least 10% of the benefits paid since the start of the pandemic have been to fraudulent claims, and that number could be as high as 27%, or $29 billion, the IG said in a Feb. 23 memo. Other states have also reported frau...