At the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), the organization I lead, we empower and guide people to minimize their risk of identity theft and mitigate the numerous impacts of identity crime. This year, we spent a lot of time working with victims of pandemic relief fraud. Victims that contacted ITRC reported having their unemployment benefits denied due to fraudulent identity issues, had their stimulus payment stolen, had fraudulent COVID-related loans taken out in their names, and were scammed into providing personal or payment information to criminals.

Though government and private data have shown the massive scope of identity fraud linked to pandemic relief benefits – like how unemployment benefits fraud jumped nearly 3,000% last year – there has been little information about the effects of identity fraud on the victims who have been denied these much-needed benefits.

To continue reading the rest of the article, please click on the source link below:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/unemployment-fraud-not-resolved-160107787.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAHt6qz8-ADWVAm-qzzFVQAFdAU1L5JwcZDJ5knd2T-OuNS9Gs2DY4G9muq0z9q3QLfhn7gFxfEvizPJIudToUybFQxlUqi34QvDr9gH0S7_RKdJx_fsq8e3hdiT95UOaZ_QwOBuZyoREQ3b4OF1ZqWhGj669dSs450Pi-BZgBkvY