Reports of fraudulent jobless claims in Maine exceed 21000 - Press Herald

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The Maine Department of Labor has received more than 21,400 reports from individuals and businesses that stolen personal information was used to file a false unemployment claim.

State and federal officials suspect organized criminal groups have used stolen personal data to claim benefits in Maine and many other U.S. states. Last week, Maine’s labor department canceled thousands more fraudulent unemployment claims last week as nearly 5,000 more Mainers filed initial claims for jobless benefits.

Some of the tens of thousands of fraud reports are duplicates because both an employee and their employer flagged the claim, the department said.

Last week, Maine cancelled 3,500 initial claims and 8,400 weekly certifications, also known as continuing claims, as fraudulent.

Nearly 20,000 initial claims and 36,000 weekly claims have been canceled for fraud since the problem emerged in late May.

“The extent of potential unemployment impostor fraud remains under investigation,” the department said.

Thousands more Mainers sought unemployment benefits last week, adding to the nearly 230,000 initial state and federal claims for benefits filed since the coronavirus pandemic hit the state.

The state labor department recorded about 3,000 new claims for state unemployment and 2,900 claims for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, available to workers typically ineligible for jobless benefits.

The number of claims covers 4,850 people, but is higher than the number of individuals seeking benefits because of duplication created by the overlapping state and federal benefits systems.

Since March 15, the state has recorded 159,000 claims for state unemployment and 70,000 federal benefit claims, the department said.

Nationally, about 1.5 million initial claims for U.S. unemployment benefits were filed last week, according to The Associated Press. That’s a historically high number, even as the economy increasingly reopens and employers bring some people back to work.

Even with the May hiring gain, nearly 21 million people are officially classified as unemployed, according to AP. And including people the government said had been erroneously categorized as employed in May and those who lost jobs but didn’t look for new ones, 32.5 million people are out of work, economists estimate.

This story will be updated.

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