犯罪分子正抓住失业人数激增的机会，从全国范围内窃取美国人的失业救济金。这使得数百万财政拮据的美国人本已艰难的处境变得更加复杂，也让州失业办公室不堪重负。
虽然没有确切的数据来衡量欺诈索赔的数量，但从华盛顿到缅因州的各州都表示，欺诈索赔数量有所增加，许多联邦机构正在努力应对。
美国劳工部监察长斯科特·达尔(Scott Dahl)对众议院政府运作小组委员会表示:“在最好的情况下，大约10%的失业保险支付是不恰当的，而我们正处于最糟糕的情况下。”。达尔估计，至少有260亿美元的利益可能被浪费掉，其中大部分将流向欺诈者。
这迫使已经因失业而步履蹒跚的失业工人为他们需要和有权获得的福利而斗争。
“我们非常关心这些人的福祉，以及他们什么时候能解决这个问题，拿到他们赖以生存的钱，”非营利性的身份盗窃资源中心的总裁兼首席执行官伊娃·韦拉斯克兹说，该中心已经见证了失业欺诈求助的急剧上升。
自3月中旬以来，已有4270万人申请失业救济，尽管随着各州允许企业重新开业，一些人被重新雇用。周四，联邦政府称2150万人正在接受失业救济。这为罪犯创造了更多的机会。每周额外的600美元福利使它更有利可图。
此外，州失业机构已经被索赔淹没，正在努力尽快向那些有需要的人发放款项。安全专家表示，在某些情况下，新的流程、增加的工作量和过时的系统可能让犯罪分子更容易采取行动。
“这对他们来说是埃尔多拉多，对受害者来说是纯粹的地狱，”数据安全公司CyberScout的创始人亚当·莱文说。
安全专家表示，大部分欺诈行为似乎是犯罪分子利用窃取的数据，利用他人的身份进行索赔。这些信息通常是从以前的数据泄露或对国家系统的直接攻击中收集的。
在许多情况下，受害者不知道自己受到了影响，直到他们申请福利，并发现有人抢先了他们一步。有些人甚至发现，当罪犯篡夺他们的利益时，他们的福利金就停止了。
受害者应该向国家、他们的雇主举报涉嫌欺诈，并提交警方报告。但是解决这个问题并获得适当的支付意味着通过处理失业救济金申请的国家机构，这可能已经不堪重负。
据《纽约时报》报道，美国特勤局上个月发布了一份备忘录，暗示一个组织严密的尼日利亚诈骗团伙正以州失业系统为目标，并获得了该文件的副本。但特工们仍在努力查明谁和从哪里卷入。备忘录称，华盛顿是受灾最严重的州，但有证据表明，北卡罗来纳州、马萨诸塞州、罗德岛州、俄克拉荷马州、怀俄明州和佛罗里达州都发生了袭击。加州网络安全公司Agari上周估计，至少有11个州成为攻击目标。
周四，华盛顿官员称，该州已经追回了3.33亿美元，而欺诈性支出的金额估计为5.5亿至6.5亿美元。
那些有工作的人也是骗子的目标。布莱克·维克多·肯特说，上周他收到了马萨诸塞州失业救济局的一封信，通知他他们已经开始支付他的失业救济金。
“这很有趣，因为我还在工作，”他说。
肯特认为，几年前他是一次数据泄露的受害者时，他的信息可能已经暴露了。但是他的雇主，马萨诸塞州总医院，几天后给员工发了一封电子邮件，说他们知道很多这样的员工案例。
在其他情况下，犯罪分子瞄准那些提供虚假工作机会、申请失业救济和收集个人信息的人。其他人也可能成为目标，被用作为罪犯转移资金的“骡子”。
专家警告说，如果一个罪犯有足够的信息提出失业索赔，他们就有足够的信息实施其他身份盗窃行为。因此，人们需要通过冻结他们的信用并定期监控他们的信用是否有任何违规行为来保护自己免受进一步的伤害。
全国消费者联盟欺诈中心的负责人约翰·布莱奥特建议，人们也应该保持良好的网络卫生。这意味着定期更换密码，尽可能使用双因素身份认证登录账户，并警惕那些看起来太好而不真实的提议，无论是通过电话、在线、邮件还是当面。
“在失业问题开始消退之前，这将是一个困扰我们的问题，”布莱奥特说。
华盛顿奥林匹亚的雷切尔·拉·科特对此作出了贡献。
Criminals stealing unemployment benefits as claims surge
Criminals are seizing on a surge in job losses to steal unemployment benefits from Americans nationwide. This complicates an already tough situation for millions of financially strapped Americans and overwhelmed state unemployment offices.
While there’s no exact measure of how many fraudulent claims have been made, states from Washington to Maine say they’ve seen an increase and numerous federal agencies are working to fight it.
“About 10% of (unemployment insurance) payments are improper under the best of times, and we are in the worst of times,” Scott Dahl, the inspector general for the U.S. Labor Department, told the House Subcommittee on Government Operations. Dahl estimated that at least $26 billion in benefits could be wasted, with the bulk of that going to fraudsters.
This forces unemployed workers, already reeling from the loss of a job, to fight for the benefits they need and are entitled to.
“We are deeply concerned about the well-being of these people and when they will get this resolved and get the money they need to live on,” said Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center, which has seen a sharp jump in calls for help with unemployment fraud.
Since mid-March, 42.7 million people have applied for unemployment benefits, though some have been rehired as states allow businesses to reopen. On Thursday, the federal government said 21.5 million people are receiving jobless aid. That creates added opportunity for criminals. An extra $600 a week in benefits makes it more lucrative.
Additionally, state unemployment agencies have been overwhelmed by claims and are working to get payments to those in need as fast as possible. In some cases, security experts say the new processes, added workload and outdated systems may have made it easier for criminals to act.
“This is El Dorado for them and it’s pure hell for victims,” said Adam Levin, founder of data security firm CyberScout.
Security experts say the bulk of the fraud appears to be committed by criminals using stolen data to make claims using someone else's identity. The information has often been gleaned from prior data breaches or direct attacks on state systems.
In many cases, victims don’t know they have been affected until they apply for benefits and find out someone has beat them to the punch. Some even find their benefit payments halted when a criminal usurps their benefits.
Victims should report a suspected fraud to the state, their employer and file a police report. But resolving the issue and getting proper payment means going through the state agency that processes unemployment benefit claims, which is potentially already overwhelmed.
The U.S. Secret Service issued a memo last month that suggested a well-organized Nigerian fraud ring was targeting state unemployment systems, according to the New York Times, which got a copy of the document. But agents were still working to pinpoint who was involved and from where. The memo said that Washington was the hardest-hit state but there was evidence of attacks in North Carolina, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Oklahoma, Wyoming and Florida. The California cybersecurity firm Agari estimated last week that at least 11 states have been targeted.
On Thursday, officials in Washington said the state has recovered $333 million out an estimated $550 million to $650 million paid out fraudulently.
Those with jobs are also targets of the fraudsters. Blake Victor Kent said that last week he got a letter from the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance informing him that they had commenced payments for his unemployment claim.
“That’s funny, because I am still employed,” he said.
Kent thought his information may have been exposed when he was a victim of a data breach a few years back. But his employer, Massachusetts General Hospital, sent an email a few days later to staff saying they were aware of a number of such cases for employees.
In other cases, criminals are targeting people with false job offers, assistance filing unemployment and to glean personal information. Other people may also be targeted and used as “mules” to move money for the criminals.
Experts warn that if a criminal has enough information to make an unemployment claim, they have enough information to commit other acts of identity theft. So people need to protect themselves from further harm by freezing their credit and monitoring their credit regularly for any irregularities.
People should practice good cyber hygiene as well, suggests John Breyault, who manages the National Consumers League’s Fraud Center. That means changing passwords regularly, using two-factor authentication whenever possible to log into accounts and being wary of offers that seem too good to be true, whether that is by phone, online, mail or in person.
“Until this unemployment problem starts to recede, this is going to be a problem that sticks with us,” Breyault said.
Rachel La Corte in Olympia, Washington, contributed.
