Officials in the state of Maryland uncovered new cases of unemployment fraud — this time using the identities of Gov. Larry Hogan, Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford, and other high-ranking government leaders, including Secretary of Labor Tiffany Robinson.
“This kind of fraud truly can happen to anyone, and we need to remain vigilant,” Hogan said in a tweet on Wednesday. “We are working closely with our state and federal law enforcement officials to ensure that these criminals are brought to justice.”
A press release from the Hogan administration says the fraudulent claims were “immediately blocked,” and that Maryland State Police and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of the Inspector General will be involved in the subsequent criminal investigation.
The incident is just the latest example of an ongoing battle between the state of Maryland and fraudsters trying to file unemployment insurance claims using real people’s identities. Last month, the state Department of Labor said it had recently “detected illegitimate traffic and blocked fraudsters attempting to file tens of thousands of new claims on the website using real Social Security Numbers and addresses.”
Worse, in July, the Hogan administration said it had discovered and thwarted a massive unemployment fraud scheme — 47,500 unemployment claims filed using stolen identities, totaling $501 million.
“This criminal enterprise seeking to take advantage of a global pandemic to steal hundreds of millions—perhaps billions—of dollars from taxpayers is despicable,” Hogan said at the time.
Data released by the state shows that 85% of the claims the Labor Department system flags for investigation are confirmed to be fraudulent upon further investigation.
In the meantime, some people who’ve filed for unemployment benefits still haven’t received help from the state. At the end of October, the state says it had processed about 95% of the claims it received since March, with 80% receiving support and nearly 15% denied it. Overall, 41,322 claims were still pending at the time, with most under investigation to iron out disputes.
Maryland paid more than $8.2 billion in state and federal unemployment insurance benefits between the beginning of March and the end of November.
Hogan and other officials urged Marylanders who believe their identities may have been stolen in order to file unemployment insurance claims to contact the state Department of Labor’s Division of Unemployment Insurance at ui.fraud@maryland.gov.
Margaret Barthel