the Fraudian Slip Podcast: Unemployment Benefits Fraud Totals Could Be Over $200 Billion

ID.me shares with the ITRC in the newest Fraudian Slip podcast exploring the latest identity theft trends

• According to ID.me Founder and CEO Blake Hall, the ultimate unemployment benefits fraud totals could be between $200-$300 billion for the last year.
• Hall also says that over 50 percent of the claims being paid on are fraudulent, individuals are applying with their own identity in multiple states, and that eligibility fraud is at 30 percent.
• To learn more, listen to this week’s episode of The Fraudian Slip at the company website listed below.
• You can learn more about the identity-related crimes discussed in the podcast and how to protect yourself from identity fraud and compromises by visiting the ITRC’s website www.idtheftcenter.org.
• If you think you are the victim of an identity crime or your identity has been compromised, you can call us, chat live online, send an email or leave a voice mail for an expert advisor to get advice on how to respond. Just visit www.idtheftcenter.org to get started.

Below is a transcript of our podcast with special guest Blake Hall, CEO of ID.me

Welcome to The Fraudian Slip, the Identity Theft Resource Center’s (ITRC) podcast, where we talk about all-things identity compromise, crime and fraud that impact people and businesses.

This month, March, we will explore one of the key issues at the root of the tsunami of fraudulent unemployment benefit claims prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The level of benefit fraud has gone from truly unprecedented to staggering.

In mid-2020, the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Labor told Congress that stolen unemployment benefits could reach $26 billion. That was before the state of California warned benefit fraud had already exceeded $11 billion just in that state. This past weekend, officials now estimate the amount of fraud to be more than $60 billion.

Our guest on this month’s podcast, ID.me Founder and CEO Blake Hall, predicts the ultimate unemployment benefits fraud totals will be between $200-$300 billion. He also says over 50 percent of the claims being paid on are fraudulent, individuals are applying with their own identity in multiple states, and that eligibility fraud is at 30 percent.

This is just one piece of a bigger identity-related fraud puzzle. Complaints to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about identity-related fraud more than doubled in 2020, with government credential and benefit fraud topping the list.

What is the common denominator here? Automated and manual processes are used to prove we are who we say we are. I.D. verification and validation is a bedrock principle of our technology-driven world. Professional cybercriminals have largely figured out how to get around common identity-proofing techniques.

In some cases, well-meaning state officials even “pulled the goalie” last year by relaxing verification standards to help speed benefits to people impacted by the pandemic who desperately needed the help.

There is good news to be found when it comes to identity verification. Private companies and government agencies are rapidly moving away from traditional I.D. proofing and to more modern, secure, and accurate ways of proving you are who you claim to be.

We talked with ID.me CEO Blake Hall about the following:

• Traditional ways to verify identities, and how they failed in 2020
• State of the Art in I.D. verification
• What is next for I.D. verification in the age of privacy

We also talked with ITRC CEO Eva Velasquez about the following:

• What happened in 2020 with identity-related fraud
• What individuals can do to protect themselves against identity-related fraud
• Resources available to help consumers protect themselves from identity-related fraud

For answers to all of these questions, listen to this week’s episode of  The Fraudian Slip Podcast.