The BBB and Indiana Attorney General's office say “malicious tagging" is on the rise a growing Facebook scam in which scammers hack into your friend’s Facebook page and tag you
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.
Economy
Besides affecting the workforce, enhanced benefits are a magnet for fraud. Min
America’s governors are disagreeing with the Biden administration about what’s behind April’s disappointing job report, which showed far fewer new jobs than expected and an uptick in the unemployment rate. Yet the White House on Monday repeated its claim that generous unemployment benefits are not a factor.
“We don’t see much evidence that the extra unemployment insurance is a major driver in people not rejoining the workforce,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday, pointing instead to vaccination rates and worries about child care because many schools have yet to reopen.