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Cyber Risks · Krebs on Security

Riding the State Unemployment Fraud ‘Wave’

Summary: The U.S. Secret Service warned of massive fraud against state unemployment insurance programs, attributing false filings from a well-organized Nigerian crime ring to potential losses of hundreds of millions of dollars, while fraud forums and Telegram channels sell tutorials on siphoning unemployment funds for roughly $50 in bitcoin. Agari reported that the group it calls Scattered Canary filed at least 174 fraudulent unemployment claims with Washington state since April 29, using Gmail dot accounts to mass-create accounts, with a maximum potential loss of $4.7 million, and Arkansas exposed the Social Security numbers, bank account and routing numbers of some 30,000 applicants through its PUA site.

Key Takeaway: A federal fraud investigator said many states have few controls to spot multiple payments to the same bank accounts or filings from the same Internet address, and that deposits go into accounts where the beneficiary name does not match the account name - so the loss figure is not a ceiling but a starting point.

Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗

Topics
Fraud & Scams
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