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Identity Thieves Drain Unemployment Benefit Funds
Makarand writes "According to a News.com.com article, the
defrauding of state government
unemployment benefit programs is the most underpublicized identity theft crime
and the states are not doing much about it. Identity thieves are using
stolen social security numbers to file false unemployment claims and collecting
benefits because the states have no systems in place to deter fraud. In fact,
it is easier to convert stolen identity data into money by filing
false unemployment claims than going after the credit card companies." From the article: "File a false unemployment claim and you can receive $400 per week for 26 weeks. Do it for 100 Social Security numbers and you've made a quick $1.04 million. It's tough to make crime pay much better than that."
The theory is that people that do not have a job and have reached the end of unemployment benefits should not count as unemployed. They should not count because they are in a class of people that either will not accept the jobs that are available or have no useful skills for the current market. Either way, they are not counted in unemployment because unemployment is more a measure of people that are likely to be useful in the workforce and are willing to fill a present economic need.
In my state, the checks are mailed.
I don't respond to AC's.
That is untrue. Unemployment is calculated based on a household survey of thousands of people, not the number of people on unemployment insurance.
This can be confirmed in wiki and various gov sites.
All you need is a fake ID and a convenient local check cashing/payday loan place. All the anonymity required at a 10% fee.
It's good to use your head, but not as a battering ram.
In Texas, when someone files an unemployment claim, their employers within their "eligibility window" - ie, those they worked for the last X months (18? 24?) get notices. If their unemployment claim is granted (which requires they have been terminated not-for-cause, or that they quit for very specific few reasons, like harrassment), it is "debited" to the employer, and the employer's unemployment tax rate may go up as a result.
I can't imagine how they manage to file unemployment claims without the employers knowing and going to the person and saying, "What the heck? You're still employed." The jig would be up pretty quick. In Texas, the first phone interview includes a call to the employer(s) and takes place within days of the filing, probably before the first check is paid.
Since the unemployment fund is paid into through payroll deductions linked to the SSN, by the employer, I don't see how this could succeed, at least in Texas.
Maybe some states are more lax, but I know here in Missouri, there's no way you'd "easily get away" with this type of scam.
For starters, you're required to do an in-person reporting to your local unemployment office every 4 weeks. Until you do, your benefits cease, and not showing up for the in-person reporting after 2 weeks go by terminates your benefits.
Also, the maximum benefit amount they pay out in Missouri is $250 per week, not $400 like the figures used in the article.
To top it off, they also require that you apply for at least 3 jobs per week and keep a log of your contacts. True, they may or may not ever really look at this - but they reserve the right to. (I don't know exactly how that policy works, but I'm guessing maybe they randomly select people from the pool of benefits-seekers to come in and show them the log of contacts.) And in some cases, applicants for benefits are also required to go through other processes, such as spending time each week in their "resource room", using their computer database to job hunt.
(From the Bureau of Labor and Statistics Glossary)
Reaching the end of your benefits has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not you are counted as unemployed. You are considered unemployed so long as you are not working but were available to work and have actively been seeking employment.
I currently have no clever signature witicism to add here.
Advise for everyone: start using fake SSNs and DOBs whenever possible
Good god someone MOD PARENT DOWN. Your advice is credit fraud which could get someone who has the fake SSN in trouble... as well yourself. Besides, if you provide correct information everywhere else you could have multiple SSNs tagged to your credit report which is evidence of fraud. BAD ADVICE, DO NOT DO THIS. If you don't want to provide your real SSN/DoB then don't give it out.
Speak truth to power.
hmmm.... no.
Politicians use the number of people getting the check.
Poeple who write policy and ar EXPERTS in this area do it this way, but it is almost always ignored.
the same thins with social security. Some politicians start saying it is going to fall apart and is broken, and people take it as fact. However, people who are experts in that field, who love numbers and economics. Essentially economic nerds, are ignored when they say that it will only need an occasional tweek every few years, like always.
also:
"These sources include the Current Population Survey, a statewide survey of businesses known as the Current Employment Statistics Survey, and state unemployment insurance claims."
from:
Washington
Also not that it is now how ALL states will calculate unemployment. so every time someone goes off umemployment, it will reduce the number. They counter that by surveying a few homes? not addiqute. People not working may NOT have a phone.
it really should be the number of people over 18 - the number of people employeed.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
UI is funded through payroll taxes - the employer pays the tax.
I'm betting he's self-employed. The self-employed are the ones who get truly screwed by our tax system--they pay both the employer and employee halves of all payroll related taxes, and as a result are taxed double. His anger at the situation--particularly about being forced to pay 3x the allowable benefit for his insurance--is quite understandable, and completely justified.
What part of "shall not be infringed" is so hard to understand?
Perhaps in another country, but not in the United States of America, it is not legal. Not without violating about 10 different laws, the HIPAA and dozens of various privacy policies guaranteeing that the information is NOT shared with third parties.
If you have direct evidence of companies doing it, please speak up... because they're breaking the law. Please provide some actual evidence.
That is correct to say that they are not thieves because they do not steal my identity, only copy it. The appropriate term is fraud. The people are using fraudulent information (my identity) to take resources from the Government that is intended for me. Thus they are thieves because they take a finite resource, thus depriving me of it.
They do not steal my identity, but they steal my benefits.
I welcome our new 99% overlords.
Again, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (I keep quoting them because, oddly enough, they're the primary source for this information. They GENERATE the unemployment statistics that everyone quotes).
It's called statistics. They interview a certain portion of unemployed people, and then set up recurring interviews with them until they become employed, or leave the labor market (ie, they are neither employed nor unemployed).
Primary sources and not pulling material out of my ass for teh win!
I currently have no clever signature witicism to add here.
Dude...happens all the time. Take a look at Acxiom Corporation . That IS their business. I used to work there way back. They take information on people from the US, and when I left from around the world too...and put it together in massive databases. They get this info from states that sell drivers license info, US postal change of address forms, those mailers you send in for 'warranties'...hell, one project was ordering phone books from around the country, cutting the bindings off, running them through OCR's, and sorting and putting that info into databases. They used these databases to actually (for a fee) cleanse other companies' databases. They clean Visa and other databases all the time...they feed the credit unions...I know they had a close relationship with Trans Union back then.
They have information put together on a large (upper 90%) of everyone in the US. We were working on plans years ago to try to generate a unique ID of our own to track people in the US as they moved...got married...etc.
Heck, we had info on people with SS, income...and even if you wore glasses or not.
Trust me...there are companies that aggregate this data all up and down, all perfectly legal. Back when I was there...we were working on doing the same to people's data in Europe and other places on the globe.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........