Audit: California agency exposed 38M Social Security numbers
LOS ANGELES (AP) — California’s unemployment benefits agency has sent out at least 38 million pieces of mail containing Social Security numbers since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, putting residents at risk of identity theft, according to a state audit released Thursday.
The Employment Development Department continued mailing forms without concealing sensitive information despite being told a year ago to stop the practice, California Auditor Elaine Howle said in a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“EDD’s failure to change its business practices in a timely manner has unnecessarily put claimants at increased risk of identity theft,” Howle wrote to the governor. “EDD must take swift action to end its potentially harmful practice and better safeguard the identities of the residents it serves.”
She urged the state’s jobless agency to immediately alter its three highest-volume mailers that include the Social Security numbers of people filing claims, instead of adhering to a previously announced timetable that would change the forms by August 2021.
Officials with the Employment Development Department and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Concerns began growing in September about possible widespread fraud in the unemployment system following numerous reports of people receiving dozens of letters from the Employment Development Department that included the personal information of others. The agency is investigating previous evidence of fraud and recently said 350,000 benefit debit cards had been frozen as part of an ongoing effort to halt fraudulent claims.
Howle said Thursday that at least one claimant received more than 65 pieces of mail from the Employment Development Department addressed to at least 15 different people. Forms containing Social Security numbers could be used by scammers to obtain undeserved benefits, she said.