Bay State getting bopped by bots
Vast automated fraud targets unemployment benefit system
Gov. Charlie Baker blasted the “tremendous amount of bot-based fraud” plaguing Massachusetts’ unemployment system as assistance to millions who lost their jobs amid the coronavirus pandemic in March is set to expire next month with no federal stimulus agreement in sight.
Of 31,000 unemployment claims filed last week, the Republican governor said just 1,000 have been verified as legitimate so far.
“Some of these fraudsters are actually paying people to call unemployment offices around the country and advocate for benefits, pretending to be somebody they’re not,” Baker said Monday during a State House press conference.
Criminals filing false claims are targeting the billions in federal aid that was poured into unemployment systems through the CARES Act as millions were left jobless at the onset of the pandemic, and have been have cost states hundreds of millions of dollars.
Two programs — one that extended unemployment benefits to gig workers and the self-employed and another that allowed claimants an additional 13 weeks of assistance are slated to expire on Dec. 26.
More than 12 million of the 23 million jobless Americans will lose their unemployment benefits when the programs expire.
Greg Sullivan, a former state inspector general and of the Pioneer Institute, said “it is a crisis and Massachusetts is not immune.”
David Tuerck of the Beacon Hill Institute, however, discouraged an extension saying more benefits would “discourage people from taking jobs.”
President-elect Joe Biden has already released his economic recovery plan — which includes a boost for unemployment benefits — but he doesn’t take control until his inauguration on Jan. 20.
“I don’t think we should be waiting, ” Baker said as he reiterated calls to Congress for action now on coronavirus aid packages that would continue to provide unemployment benefits for more than half the
“There’s a continuing resolution that has to be passed by Congress between now and the end of the calendar year. They need to reauthorize some of the unemployment funding they put out,” Baker said.
Jobless claims dropped for months following an initial spike in March and April as businesses closed en masse at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. But as cases surge again in Massachusetts and throughout the country, U.S. Labor Department data released last week showed signs the economy’s modest gains could be slipping as first-time unemployment filings rose again for the first time in weeks.