Ohio investigates unemployment fraud
Jul. 8—For months, Michelle Giles has been trying to get back $2,400 that was stolen when her unemployment account was targeted by hackers in what officials call an account takeover.
"It's just been a nightmare," said Ms. Giles, who lives in Toledo.
Far from being the only victim, Ms. Giles is one of many who has seen their accounts tampered with and their unemployment benefits fraudulently sent to different bank accounts.
During a news conference on Thursday, Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Director Matt Damschroder said the state is working to investigate and prosecute those responsible and get that money back.
In May, Mr. Damschroder said the state had paid out more than $2.1 billion in fraudulent claims and overpayments since March, 2020. On Thursday, he said that helping victims of account takeovers is "one of our highest priorities right now."
"We're doing everything in our power to prevent future account takeovers," he said.
David DeVillers, former U.S. attorney and current lead of the Cyber Fraud Law Enforcement Working Group, said there are three main avenues to recovering money: working with financial institutions, civil forfeiture, and criminal forfeiture.
If the money is still in the bank, then recovering it can be easier, Mr. DeVillers said. But if the money's gone — and he speculated that a lot of funds would be laundered through means like cryptocurrency — then those cases could take years.
"That's going to take a while," he said. "That means we have to find those individuals [and] indict those individuals."
Approximately $150 million has been recovered to Ohio so far, Mr. DeVillers said.
Calling the thefts a "historical loss" for taxpayers not just in Ohio but across the country, Mr. DeVillers said his team is working with multiple state and federal agencies to investigate claims of fraud. Globally, similar fraud claims have been reported, and Mr. DeVillers said investigating cases across jurisdictions will depend on the cooperation of other governments.
"Some nations help," he said. "Some nations don't."
Additionally, Mr. Damschroder said officials are working on a web app for a new waiver process for non-fraudulent overpayments.
Last year, Ms. Giles was laid off from her job and had no issues with her unemployment payments until just a few months ago when she submitted new documentation. For several weeks, her payment was held up, and when it was finally supposed to be in her account, it wasn't there.
Her checking account and routing numbers had been changed, she said, and the money went to an unfamiliar account. And while she was able to get her payments fixed moving forward, Ms. Giles said she's still missing $2,400 — money that she really needs.
"I am way behind with my landlord," she said. "You get behind quickly on the rent."
Ms. Giles said she's spent considerable amounts of time on the phone — hours every day — trying to get her money back.
Frustration mounted as she got nowhere, and Ms. Giles said she was upset at the lack of information from state officials for people in her situation. And it upset her to watch Gov. Mike DeWine distribute millions in a vaccine lottery when she couldn't get $2,400 back.
"You know when he was giving out that million, for Vax-a-Million, that was just burning....put that money back in unemployment," Ms. Giles said.
