Labor Dept. watchdog to claw back more than $9M from New Jersey fraudsters

Source: New York Post

WASHINGTON — The Labor Department is clawing back more than $9 million in taxpayer funds from the state of New Jersey meant for COVID-19 pandemic unemployment benefits that were instead being paid to fraudsters, The Post has learned. The scammers used Social Security numbers in other states that belonged to multiple addresses and even prisoners, dead people and children in some cases to bilk unemployment benefits, according to the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, which investigated the COVID-era scheme. More than 53,000 Unemployment Insurance claims in the Garden State were found to be fraudulent as a result.