EDD fraudulent accounts now total $20 billion, nearly double original estimate

An estimate of $11 billion paid out by California's Employment Development Department (EDD) to fraudsters has nearly doubled. The fraud began in 2020 as stacks of envelopes started showing up in mailboxes across California and across the U.S. The addresses were correct but the names were for people who never lived there. Initially, EDD gave no estimate. In fact, during a previous legislative hearing, former director Sharon Hilliard told legislators they did not track that data. By January, in the wake of two state audits into dysfunction inside the department, the EDD gave a first, very broad estimate. That was for $11.9 billion dollars paid out, with a possibility it could rise as high as $30 billion .