Crime Syndicates Target Massachusetts Unemployment System

BOSTON — Organized crime syndicates are using personal information stolen in earlier data breaches to file fraudulent unemployment claims in Massachusetts and other states.

The fraudulent claims have led to delays in processing weekly unemployment payments as the Massachusetts Department of Labor places individual calls to people who have filed for unemployment benefits to verify their identity.

"Protecting the integrity of the unemployment system and ensuring benefits are going only to valid claimants is the top priority of the Department of Unemployment Assistance,” Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Rosalin Acosta said in a statement. "While the program integrity measures we are taking will unfortunately mean that some claimants will experience temporary delays in payment, we believe these steps are necessary to respond to this unemployment scam."

The U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday that another 37,740 Massachusetts residents filed for first time unemployment benefits for the week ended May 23. In the ten weeks since companies began laying off and furloughing workers, more than 900,000 Massachusetts residents have applied for unemployment benefits, which is more than the total number of jobs added since the end of the Great Recession. The Massachusetts unemployment rate of 15.1 percent in April was the highest since the Great Depression.

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In Massachusetts, people who have filed unemployment claims need to request benefits weekly. But people's accounts who have been flagged as potentially fraudulent have received messages that their accounts are unavailable when they have logged in or called to file their weekly complain. The problem was discovered over the weekend.

Acosta said anyone who thinks a fraudulent unemployment claim may have been filed with their personal information should fill out an online fraud contact form or call 877-626-6800.

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Dave Copeland writes for Patch and can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).