Fraudsters may have stolen more than $45 billion from the country’s unemployment insurance program during the COVID-19 pandemic, per a federal report released Thursday.
The scammers used Social Security numbers of deceased individuals or identities of prisoners who are not eligible for the aid and allegedly filed billions of dollars worth of unemployment claims in multiple states, simultaneously.
The report further added, “We determined 205,766 Social Security numbers of deceased persons were used to file claims for UI (unemployment insurance) pandemic benefits.”
Just earlier this week, federal prosecutors had charged 47 people for allegedly stealing $250 million from a government aid program that was meant to feed needy children during the pandemic.