Fraud, according to the U.S. Labor Department, is the primary reason more than $36 billion in unemployment payments have been lost since the pandemic began a year ago.
Scammers have largely focused on the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which was created by the federal CARES Act late last March. And this is going on in all states, the acting secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry said on Tuesday afternoon.
âFraudsters are stealing information,â Jennifer Berrier said during a virtual news briefing. âSome are creating Facebook pages that look like L&Iâs Facebook page or falsely identify themselves as L&I employees.