Chicago can add identity fraud to its list of problems since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and looting prompted by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
A local CBS affiliate’s investigation has revealed a sharp spike in the number of fraudulent unemployment claims resulting in payments of up to $1,084 per week to confused citizens.
The station interviewed locals like Reginald Fitzgerald, Kristen Jeske, and Traci Weathers, for example, about their experience receiving verification letters from the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
“I’m still working,” a befuddled Ms. Fitzgerald told investigative reporter Dorothy Tucker on Tuesday.
Businesses that act as middlemen with the state provided data since IDES would not provide it for the total number of working adults who were approved for unemployment benefits.
“Companies that work with employers say the numbers are alarming,” the reporter wrote.
“It’s unbelievable,” added NSN Employer Services manager Jennifer Castellanos. “I was expecting the influx of claims to rise [as officials rush to provide shutdown payments], but nowhere near expecting the amount of fraud claims to rise.”
She told the station that NSN’s unemployment claims skyrocketed from 1,000 a week to 5,000.
Eleven out of roughly 300 of NSN’s cases have been addressed by IDES thus far.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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