Nassau Employees Targeted By Unemployment Fraud Rings
NASSAU COUNTY, NY — Nearly 400 employees of private and government institutions around Nassau County have had their identities stolen and used to file fraudulent unemployment claims, according to Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas.
The identities of 380 people working for Northwell Health, Nassau Community College, Hofstra University, the villages of Valley Stream, East Williston and Herricks, several Nassau County school districts, and other smaller organizations and companies have been stolen by the fraud rings, according to Singas. The fraudsters submitted false claims to the New York State Department of Labor using the stolen identities, Singas said. The claims can result in weekly unemployment benefits payments ranging from $104 to $504.
The scheme, which started at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in early March, involves claims for hundreds of thousands of dollars in unemployment benefits. Singas said her office has been working with the state Department of Labor and the affected employers to prevent the payments.
There is no evidence any of the companies and organizations were hacked, Singas said.
“Criminals are seizing on a surge in job losses to steal unemployment benefits from employees working for Nassau County organizations and companies,” Singas said. “Not only are they stealing identities, but they’re trying to steal money earmarked for people who’ve lost their main source of income.”
The pattern of fraudulent claims is the work of one or more organized rings, which tend to target employees at the executive, managerial or professional level of their organizations, because those people tend to earn more money and would therefore receive more unemployment benefits, Singas said. Those employees would also probably still be employed and not applied for unemployment, which almost guarantees no duplication of claims between the real person and the fraudster.
Many victims didn't know they had been affected until they received a letter from the state Department of Labor indicating that their “claim” for unemployment benefits was approved. Some victims subsequently received a debit card loaded with unemployment benefit funds. In some cases, debit cards were sent in the names of the victims to addresses controlled by fraudsters.
Singas asked anyone who thinks they may have been a victim of this pandemic unemployment benefit scheme to contact the Financial Crimes Bureau at 516-571-2149. Affected employees who are victims of identity theft are advised to immediately place a free fraud alert with any one of the three national credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.
“It is despicable that criminals would exploit a global pandemic to attempt to defraud our unemployment safety net,” said New York State Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon. “I would like to thank Nassau County DA Singas, her office and other law enforcement agencies from across the state for their partnership in stopping this fraud — and we will continue to aggressively investigate and disrupt these criminal schemes. Thanks to these proactive efforts, we have stopped millions of dollars from falling into the wrong hands, and we will hold those responsible for these crimes accountable.”
This article originally appeared on the Garden City Patch
