FBI, IL Attorney General Launch Unemployment Fraud Task Force
CHICAGO — A joint state and federal unemployment fraud task force has been formed to address hundreds of thousands of false jobless claims filed in Illinois.
Officials said the partnership announced Thursday between the FBI and the Illinois Attorney General's Office will allow federal resources to be deployed to fight unemployment fraudsters.
“While the citizens of Illinois have worked to regain financial stability after last year’s tumultuous job market, criminals have sought to do them harm,” Emmerson Buie, who leads the FBI's Chicago field office, said in a news release.
“With today’s announcement of a joint unemployment task force, we commit to working with our local, state, and federal partners to ensure that those who would steal resources from our most vulnerable are brought to swift justice."
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, more than 350,000 fraudulent claims for unemployment insurance benefits have been reported to the Illinois Department of Economic Security.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said the new task force will allow a broad coalition of different law enforcement agencies to share resources to combat the rampant fraud.
“I appreciate the FBI dedicating the needed resources and look forward to working with our partner agencies to investigate and hold accountable those who steal federal funding that is intended to help residents during the COVID-19 pandemic," Raoul said.
In addition to the FBI and the Illinois Department of Employment Security, or IDES, the task force will have assistance from Illinois State Police, the Illinois Department of Revenue, the IRS and the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of the Inspector General, officials announced. Two private associations of public employees are also involved: the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and the Illinois State's Attorneys Association.
Illinois Department of Revenue Director David Harris said he looked forward to helping victims of fraudulent claims and stoping criminal activity.
“As the 2021 tax filing season nears," Harris said, "the Illinois Department of Revenue remains focused on preventing fraudulent income tax refunds, including those perpetrated through unemployment insurance claims."
There were nearly 426,000 unemployed workers in Illinois in November, the last month for which data was available. The state's most non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 6.5 percent, according to IDES.
More than 45,000 Illinois residents filed for new unemployment insurance benefits last week, down from 110,000 the week before, the department reported. That marks a decline from mid-December, when Illinois reported more benefits claims than any other state — 154,000 people, or about 18 percent of all unemployment claims in the country.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker's first pick to head IDES, Gustavo Giraldo, resigned without explanation two weeks after getting the job. His second nominee, Tom Chan, was replaced in July by Kristin Richards, then-chief of staff to Senate President John Cullerton.
Last month, the state unemployment agency admitted it had been sending personally identifiable information of identity theft victims to fake employer addresses provided by fraudsters. In a statement, agency officials said they had taken steps to stop including personal information in letters they sent to employer addresses — and to notify everyone affected.
Announcing the new state-federal task force, Richards said unemployment fraudsters has cost the agency time and resources that could have been used in helping out-of-work Illinoisans.
“Bad actors have taken advantage of a global pandemic that has pushed desperate people to unemployment insurance agencies for economic relief,” IDES Acting Director Kristin Richards said. “While this massive fraud scheme has redirected the valuable man-hours and resources the Department would be better served to use assisting claimants, IDES remains committed to detecting and shutting these claims down and will continue to support law enforcement’s efforts to find the fraudsters behind these crimes.”
This article originally appeared on the Across Illinois Patch
