Why doesn’t Ohio notify victims of unemployment fraud or allow residents to check if they’ve been scammed? - cleveland.com
Why doesn’t Ohio notify victims of unemployment fraud or allow residents to check if they’ve been scammed?
Updated: Oct. 04, 2021, 12:16 a.m. | Published: Oct. 02, 2021, 5:30 a.m.
Unemployment fraud website
Ohio's anti-unemployment fraud system relies to a significant extent on residents notifying state officials about bogus claims filed in their name, rather than vice-versa. (Ohio Department of Job and Family Services)
By Jeremy Pelzer, cleveland.com
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Unemployment fraud has been an enormous problem in Ohio during the coronavirus pandemic, as scammers have exploited stolen personal information from hundreds of thousands of state residents to obtain about half a billion dollars of taxpayer money.
But while the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services has worked to clamp down on the fraud, including paying security contractors millions of dollars, the state doesn’t directly notify residents when a claim filed in their name has been flagged for fraud. And there’s still no easy way for Ohioans to find out on their own whether their information has been used by criminals to apply for jobless benefits.
Rather, large numbers of victims have indirectly learned they they were targeted. Some received income-tax forms for benefits they never applied for, or received form letters sent to their home addressed to an unfamiliar name. Ohio’s unemployment anti-fraud system relies to a significant extent on people notifying the state that they’ve been victimized, rather than vice-versa.
So why doesn’t the state proactively tell people about suspicious claims filed in their name, or at least allow residents to check to see if scammers filed a claim using their identity?
ODJFS’ arguments include that it would be hard to set up a notification system and that it would be very difficult to identify and reach many of the fraud victims. Plus, they’re not required to.
ODJFS spokesman Bill Teets said that it can be “very difficult to determine who and/or how to contact someone” about a claim flagged for fraud because scammers often use a combination of bogus and real names, addresses, and emails.
For example, if someone gets a piece of mail at their address with another person’s name, even if that first person reports it, ODJFS might not know how to contact the second person whose name is on the letter, Teets said.
In addition, he said, not all claims flagged for fraud turn out to be fraudulent – it takes time for ODJFS adjudicators to determine on a case-by-case basis whether a suspicious claim is genuine or bogus.
“For example, a claim made from a computer that has had multiple claims made from it is suspicious,” Teets said. “But many people use a shared computer at a library to file legitimate claims.”
If ODJFS decided to set up a fraud notification system, Teets continued, after an employee determines a claim is fraudulent, they would then have to start a new investigation to determine whether the person listed on the claim, as well as their contact information, is real or not.
This isn’t always as easy as it might seem, Teets said, noting that recently he personally encountered trouble helping an Ohioan with their claim because they went by two different names.
“How do you know that somebody used their maiden name? Somebody used their nom de plume?” Teets asked. “It looks simple on paper to say, ‘We’ll just contact somebody.’ But if you look at hundreds of thousands of these potentially fraudulent claims, I think it would be very difficult to do (notifications).”
When asked why the state hasn’t created a way for Ohioans to check whether anyone applied for benefits using their personal information, Teets said his “immediate reaction is that it would cause more potential for fraud.”
ODJFS isn’t allowed to publicly release people’s claims statuses, Teets said, adding “You wouldn’t want me finding out if you’re on unemployment by just typing in your name.”
Even if a search system was set up that required people to enter their Social Security number as a security precaution, that would be “a fraudster’s dream,” Teets said.
Scammers can buy thousands of names and Social Security numbers at a time, acquired through data breaches and other means. With that information, Teets said, criminals could enter each name and Social Security number into such a search system, find out which people haven’t yet filed a claim, and submit bogus applications in their names.
“I can’t say that creating a database isn’t a possibility, but I do think it would require serious consideration and resources,” Teets said.
There are other problems as well, Teets said. When a claim is determined to be fraudulent, the applicant is notified that their claim was denied. But often fraudulent claims don’t list the person’s correct address.
And with federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits claims – where most of the fraud has occurred – the application process usually takes place via email, without any paper correspondence. For obvious reasons, Teets said, scammers put in their own email address instead of their victims’ email when filling out benefits applications. That means if ODJFS were to notify PUA applicants that their claims were fraudulent, they would very likely be sending those messages to the scammers, not the victims.
In recent years, private companies such as Target and Experian who have been hacked have had to legally notify customers that their personal information was accessed. (Such hacks are believed to be, at least in part, where scammers got Ohioans’ personal information to use to file fake unemployment claims).
But ODJFS wasn’t hacked, Teets said, so it doesn’t have to issue such notifications.
ODJFS has prioritized looking at claims that are less likely to be fraudulent first, “in order to process claims most likely to be legitimate,” Teets said. That means the claims that are most obviously fraudulent are put to one side and examined last.
As of Sept. 27, ODJFS had received a total of 369,200 reports of unemployment fraud, according to a slideshow presented by department director Matt Damschroder to a legislative panel on Thursday.
Of those reports, 74,640 were from individuals who reported receiving a 1099-G tax form showing benefits were dishonestly filed in their name, according to the slideshow. Another 18,000 reports came from employers, the document stated.
Ohioans can report cases of unemployment fraud via ODJFS’ website or by calling (833) 658-0394.
Updated: Oct. 04, 2021, 12:16 a.m. | Published: Oct. 02, 2021, 5:30 a.m.
Unemployment fraud website
Ohio's anti-unemployment fraud system relies to a significant extent on residents notifying state officials about bogus claims filed in their name, rather than vice-versa. (Ohio Department of Job and Family Services)
By Jeremy Pelzer, cleveland.com
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Unemployment fraud has been an enormous problem in Ohio during the coronavirus pandemic, as scammers have exploited stolen personal information from hundreds of thousands of state residents to obtain about half a billion dollars of taxpayer money.
But while the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services has worked to clamp down on the fraud, including paying security contractors millions of dollars, the state doesn’t directly notify residents when a claim filed in their name has been flagged for fraud. And there’s still no easy way for Ohioans to find out on their own whether their information has been used by criminals to apply for jobless benefits.
Rather, large numbers of victims have indirectly learned they they were targeted. Some received income-tax forms for benefits they never applied for, or received form letters sent to their home addressed to an unfamiliar name. Ohio’s unemployment anti-fraud system relies to a significant extent on people notifying the state that they’ve been victimized, rather than vice-versa.
So why doesn’t the state proactively tell people about suspicious claims filed in their name, or at least allow residents to check to see if scammers filed a claim using their identity?
ODJFS’ arguments include that it would be hard to set up a notification system and that it would be very difficult to identify and reach many of the fraud victims. Plus, they’re not required to.
ODJFS spokesman Bill Teets said that it can be “very difficult to determine who and/or how to contact someone” about a claim flagged for fraud because scammers often use a combination of bogus and real names, addresses, and emails.
For example, if someone gets a piece of mail at their address with another person’s name, even if that first person reports it, ODJFS might not know how to contact the second person whose name is on the letter, Teets said.
In addition, he said, not all claims flagged for fraud turn out to be fraudulent – it takes time for ODJFS adjudicators to determine on a case-by-case basis whether a suspicious claim is genuine or bogus.
“For example, a claim made from a computer that has had multiple claims made from it is suspicious,” Teets said. “But many people use a shared computer at a library to file legitimate claims.”
If ODJFS decided to set up a fraud notification system, Teets continued, after an employee determines a claim is fraudulent, they would then have to start a new investigation to determine whether the person listed on the claim, as well as their contact information, is real or not.
This isn’t always as easy as it might seem, Teets said, noting that recently he personally encountered trouble helping an Ohioan with their claim because they went by two different names.
“How do you know that somebody used their maiden name? Somebody used their nom de plume?” Teets asked. “It looks simple on paper to say, ‘We’ll just contact somebody.’ But if you look at hundreds of thousands of these potentially fraudulent claims, I think it would be very difficult to do (notifications).”
When asked why the state hasn’t created a way for Ohioans to check whether anyone applied for benefits using their personal information, Teets said his “immediate reaction is that it would cause more potential for fraud.”
ODJFS isn’t allowed to publicly release people’s claims statuses, Teets said, adding “You wouldn’t want me finding out if you’re on unemployment by just typing in your name.”
Even if a search system was set up that required people to enter their Social Security number as a security precaution, that would be “a fraudster’s dream,” Teets said.
Scammers can buy thousands of names and Social Security numbers at a time, acquired through data breaches and other means. With that information, Teets said, criminals could enter each name and Social Security number into such a search system, find out which people haven’t yet filed a claim, and submit bogus applications in their names.
“I can’t say that creating a database isn’t a possibility, but I do think it would require serious consideration and resources,” Teets said.
There are other problems as well, Teets said. When a claim is determined to be fraudulent, the applicant is notified that their claim was denied. But often fraudulent claims don’t list the person’s correct address.
And with federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits claims – where most of the fraud has occurred – the application process usually takes place via email, without any paper correspondence. For obvious reasons, Teets said, scammers put in their own email address instead of their victims’ email when filling out benefits applications. That means if ODJFS were to notify PUA applicants that their claims were fraudulent, they would very likely be sending those messages to the scammers, not the victims.
In recent years, private companies such as Target and Experian who have been hacked have had to legally notify customers that their personal information was accessed. (Such hacks are believed to be, at least in part, where scammers got Ohioans’ personal information to use to file fake unemployment claims).
But ODJFS wasn’t hacked, Teets said, so it doesn’t have to issue such notifications.
ODJFS has prioritized looking at claims that are less likely to be fraudulent first, “in order to process claims most likely to be legitimate,” Teets said. That means the claims that are most obviously fraudulent are put to one side and examined last.
As of Sept. 27, ODJFS had received a total of 369,200 reports of unemployment fraud, according to a slideshow presented by department director Matt Damschroder to a legislative panel on Thursday.
Of those reports, 74,640 were from individuals who reported receiving a 1099-G tax form showing benefits were dishonestly filed in their name, according to the slideshow. Another 18,000 reports came from employers, the document stated.
Ohioans can report cases of unemployment fraud via ODJFS’ website or by calling (833) 658-0394.
