McHenry Times

State Rep. Dan Ugaste (R-Geneva) recently criticized Gov. J.B. Pritzker for the failures of the Illinois Department of Employment Security during the pandemic.

"A recent audit found that more than half of the federal relief funds meant to assist out-of-work Illinoisans was lost to fraud during the pandemic. Despite early warnings, the Governor refused to take responsibility for the issues at IDES, leaving struggling Illinoisans with even more hardship," Ugaste wrote Wednesday in a Facebook post. "We have to work collaboratively to ensure our state is prepared before the next crisis."

According to Illinois Policy, the U.S. Department of Labor has criticized the Illinois government for neglecting to report fraudulent unemployment claims, stating that failure to track that fraud makes it easier for it to be committed in the future.

“Without accurate state performance information, Congress and the [Employment and Training Administration] are not able to fully assess state activities and mitigate the risk of overpayments and fraud for future programs of a similar nature,” Illinois Policy reports. 

David Maimon, a criminology professor at Georgia State University, said that online resources were available for those looking to exploit Illinois' unemployment benefits. “We see many identities, many bank accounts, many driver’s licenses that are associated with Illinois residents available for purchase on the dark web," Maimon said.

Although Illinois officials say they updated software to improve security, and the General Assembly passed two new laws cracking down on identity theft and fraudulent stimulus loans, some believe the new protections do not go far enough. 

Haywood Talcove, CEO of LexisNexis Risk Solutions, said, “They’re claiming it’s fixed, and I’m telling you, it’s not fixed."

Auditor General Frank Mautino released a report in June, which found that out of the $3.6 billion in pandemic unemployment assistance payments that Illinois sent out between July 2020 and June 2021, more than half were fraudulent, Illinois Newsroom reports. Almost $2 billion worth of payments were sent to scammers.

“Overpayments associated with identity theft and traditional fraud within the PUA program was unprecedented and resulted in fraudsters using highly sophisticated techniques to take advantage of the current economic condition created by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the audit states. 

An estimated $163 billion in unemployment payments nationwide were fraudulent. In response to the report, Illinois Republicans called for hearings to investigate the Illinois Department of Employment Security's procedures in making unemployment payments to determine whether the agency failed to follow recommendations for fraud prevention.

After Pritzker ordered businesses to shut down in 2020, Illinois saw a huge spike in unemployment claims, leading to the accumulation of billions in unemployment debt, the Center Square reports. Although Illinois put some federal relief funds toward paying down the debt, there is still a remaining balance of about $1.8 billion accruing interest.