The jobless payments, including an extra $300-per-week federal benefit that Democrats extended through Sept. 6, have been paid to death row inmates in California and fraudsters in Nigeria and Russia. The benefit is on top of state payments that average $320 per week.
Experts say scammers have exploited a provision in the CARES Act of March 2020 that allowed the self-employed, independent contractors and “gig” workers to file for unemployment benefits for the first time.
The flood of money into the unemployment system also has caused identity theft to soar.
Eva Velasquez, CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center, told House Republicans on Monday that her organization reported a 4,800% increase in the number of unemployment identity fraud cases last year.