By Jason Pachucki
In some cases, states and employers have gotten better about identifying fraudulent claims following the surge during the pandemic. We've seen a downturn in the amount of fraud at the macro level, but, unfortunately, it appears that we're clearly not out of the woods, yet. In 2022, the volume of identified fraudulent claims still remained at levels more than 3x what they were in 2019.¹ We are just now seeing another surge in fraudulent claims in some states, such as Ohio and Massachusetts, and other events percolating in the business world could signal risk for potential upticks in fraudulent unemployment claims in other states at any time.
Certainly, with stories of layoffs continuing to break in 2023 from retail giants to tech firms, the volume of unemployment claims have increased and provided greater opportunity for fraudsters to strike. But, what other events could signal additional risk, and what can you do to be better prepared for a potential increase in fraudulent claims activity?
Watch our video to learn more about the UI (Unemployment Insurance) modernization effort and why it may also lead to greater risk of fraudulent claims activity.
Learn more about how you can help better control your unemployment costs
You don’t have to go it alone. Check out how Unemployment Claims Fraud Watch from Equifax can help you reduce the time and burden of dealing with fraudulent claims for you and your employees.
Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Sentinel Network, Mar 2023. *All unemployment claims statistics referred to in the linked video are internal Equifax statistics from 2020 to 2022.
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