August 19, 2020 – The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) Division of Banking and Division of Financial Institutions has partnered with the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) to work with financial institutions to identify and combat unemployment fraud. At the financial institutional level, fraud can be discovered early by coordinating and engaging financial institutions as a resource.
“IDES is committed to continuing to get the unprecedented amount of benefits out the door to our claimants who desperately need it while being acutely aware that rampant fraud is penetrating all state unemployment systems across the nation,” said IDES Acting Director Kristin Richards.
The increase in the fraudulent unemployment claims has been attributed primarily to the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program. Under the ambiguous federal guidelines, which were hastily developed due to the urgency of the pandemic and issued to every state without a uniform method of implementation, the potential for fraud is abundant. Most recent data show there to be approximately 107,000 fraudulent claims affecting the PUA system since its launch on May 11, with just 14,500 fraudulent claims affecting the regular unemployment system since March 1.
