Maryland officials have uncovered a massive unemployment fraud scheme that resulted in $ 501 million in fraudulent claims, Governor Larry Hogan (R) announced at a press conference on Wednesday.
According to Hogan, more than 47,000 false claims were made using stolen identities and personal information acquired from previous data breaches. The governor said the personal information of the Maryland claimants was not compromised during the scheme.
The state has been working on the investigation with the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland and the Office of the Inspector General of the United States Department of Labor.
“We not only identify fraud here in Maryland and save taxpayers half a trillion dollars. We also help federal authorities identify related fraudulent activities across the country,” said Hogan.
Hogan said the state has processed $ 4.3 billion in federal unemployment insurance benefit payments to more than 489,000 Maryland residents.
“I can assure you that nothing will stop us from continuing to help struggling Marylanders get the assistance they need during this crisis,” said Hogan.
Millions of people have applied for unemployment benefits since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, which has led to widespread closings and economic decline. The influx of claims has resulted in long wait times, as well as the possibility of system failure and fraud.
In May, the US Secret Service announced that it had detected a large-scale foreign attack on the US unemployment system that could have caused “potential losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Earlier this month, Texas asked thousands of people who had lost their jobs to return the overpaid unemployment benefits. Officials quickly backed down and said residents could keep the additional funds they received due to state errors.
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