Wyoming targeted by unemployment fraud ring
Evanston man James
McDaniel was perplexed when, while sifting
through his mail one day at lunch, he
came across not one, but three, letters from
the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services
(DWS) Unemployment Insurance Office.
He wasn’t unemployed and was in fact
home from work on a lunch break.
“I probably would have just tossed it aside
if it was just one letter,” said McDaniel, “but
there were three of them, so I opened them.”
To his surprise, the letters stated his unemployment
application had been approved and
contained information on his workplace and
other personal details.
Confused, McDaniel decided to stop by
the Evanston DWS office to tell them there
had been some kind of mistake. It was then
he discovered he had become a victim of a
recent form of identity theft that has proliferated
during the COVID-19 pandemic and
associated economic upheaval and since the
passage of the federal CARES Act.
In mid-May, the U.S. Secret Service issued
a warning about “massive fraud” against
state unemployment insurance programs,
perpetrated by a “well-organized Nigerian
crime ring.” That warning said the fraud was
resulting in “potential losses in the hundreds
of millions of dollars,” and added, “the primary
state targeted so far is Washington,
although there is also evidence of attacks in
North Carolina, Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
Oklahoma … and Florida.” The other
state being targeted is Wyoming.
Ty Stockton, communications manager
for Wyoming DWS, confirmed there has
been fraud occurring throughout the state and
the Nigerian crime ring seems to be the largest
one identified nationally so far.
Unlike Washington state, which has reportedly
paid out more than a million dollars
in claims, Stockton said the state has thus
far not paid out a large amount of fraudulent
claims because the fraud is being caught so
quickly, but he urged people to be careful and
pay attention to their mail.
“There are some unscrupulous characters
taking advantage of the situation,” said
Stockton, referring to the large numbers of
people filing unemployment claims during
the pandemic. “Those people are hurting
and we’re trying to get claims processed
and money to people as quickly as possible
because they need it.”
“ We’re already stretched thin answering
questions and processing so many claims,”
said Stockton, “and now we’re adding extra
steps to protect against fraud. It’s slowing
down the process and could hang up some
legitimate claims, especially if a fraudulent
application has already been filed in someone’s
name and then that person goes to file.
That’s not fair to the people who really need
that money.”
Stockton said some fraud appears to be
occurring through social media, particularly
through scammers reading Facebook comments
on DWS pages that ask questions
about unemployment. The scammer will then
pose as a DWS representative and reach out
to people through private messaging asking
for identifying information.
“DWS staff will never reach out to people
and ask for protected personal information
through Facebook messenger,” said Stockton,
urging people never to give out personal
information through such messages.
A press release from DWS warned,
“Scammers often target individuals who have
filed unemployment insurance claims, though
there is evidence that a large fraud operation
is using stolen personal information from
people who have not filed claims as well.”
Stockton said there’s no certainty as to
why Wyoming has been targeted by the Nigerian
ring but said it may have something to
do with the state utilizing an online system to
apply for benefits, which some other states
do not use.
McDaniel, who has no idea how scammers
obtained his information, has now had
to contact credit reporting agencies and take
other steps to safeguard his credit and personal
information. He said it’s unnerving to
know someone was able to get so much personal
information to file a fraudulent claim,
including his home address and place of employment.
For anyone, like McDaniel, who has not
filed for unemployment but receives a letter
in the mail regarding claims, DWS asks individuals
to report it immediately. Businesses
are also asked to pay attention to any documentation
they may get showing employees
who are still working that have filed for unemployment
and report that immediately as
well.