NY software tracks unemployment pay cheats
New software has tracked those claiming New York unemployment insurance payments to hundreds of bank accounts and debit cards in countries that include France, Ireland, England, Finland, Jamaica, Greece, Israel, Germany and the Dominican Republic. Some claimants may be charged. Credit: AP, 2006
The state Department of Labor found more using its own software which, like DiNapoli's method, was adjusted to find online recertification claims made through foreign IP addresses. Now, the difficult process of collecting checks and bank deposits already made in a foreign country is under way.
DiNapoli said there's no record of how long the improper benefits stopped by his office and identified by the Labor Department had been paid out before June. The maximum state benefit is $405 a week.
"Any payments going outside the country -- whether to American citizens or foreign nationals gaming the system -- there needs to be zero tolerance," DiNapoli said. "How widespread is it? We'll keep looking."
The benefits were transmitted to hundreds of bank accounts and debit cards in countries that include France, Ireland, England, Finland, Jamaica, Greece, Israel, Germany and the Dominican Republic. Further investigations could lead to charges.
The discovery is part of $1.4 million in unemployment benefits that DiNapoli's office stopped that were written out to working people, illegal immigrants and the dead, but were cashed in by others in 2011.
DiNapoli said his auditors found the state paid nearly $1 million more in benefits to people who didn't qualify for unemployment checks in June and July before the new software could stop the payments.
Among them are 91 recently hired state workers who owe $105,000 for overpayment of unemployment benefits, according to DiNapoli's audit.
The Department of Labor was already in the process of updating its computer tracking and strengthening fraud-prevention. Last year, it processed 1 million claims totaling $7.6 billion, so the foreign-bound benefits are just a sliver of the total.
For about six years, New Yorkers have been able to go online to certify that they are still eligible for unemployment benefits, although they must first apply in person.
A person must be ready and able to work to get a check. Being in another country means they aren't considered ready to work in New York.
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