Colorado auditor finds $73 million in "likely fraudulent" unemployment payments, including to dead

Colorado auditor finds $73 million in “likely fraudulent” unemployment payments, including to dead people


Colorado may have paid $73 million in fraudulent unemployment benefits, with payments made to dead people, inmates and underage applicants, a state audit found, more than double the $30 million state labor officials had previously confirmed was improperly paid.

“Despite the numerous steps that the department has taken to prevent and detect fraud, our audit identified likely or potentially fraudulent claims that the department didn’t identify,” Ethan Greenberg, senior auditor with the Colorado Office of the State Auditor, told the legislative audit committee hearing Monday.

The auditor’s report found 8,200 unduplicated claims for $73.1 million in payments between March 1, 2020 and April 30. Those include:

• $3.87 million to 1,065 deceased claimants, which included “some claimants who’d been deceased for years”
• $5.04 million to 696 incarcerated claimants. Incarcerated residents are ineligible for unemployment benefits
• $101,630 to 18 people “not of working age”
• $18.5 million to 2,919 people who were considered “potentially fraudsters” and had suspicious bank accounts
• $52.7 million to 4,354 claimants with multiple indicators of fraud

There was overlap and duplication in the fraud claims found by the auditor’s office, but the unduplicated amount is $73.1 million, as seen in the chart below.

Read more: https://coloradosun.com/2021/12/06/colorado-auditor-fraudulent-unemployment-payments-dead/