BUCYRUS—Pandemic unemployment fraud is happening throughout the country and Crawford County residents are no exception when it comes to falling victim to this crime.
Galion resident Don Faulds nearly threw away the US bank card he received in the mail in December until he realized it was not junk mail and he should investigate further.
“I called the number on the card and found out that it’s for people who are receiving unemployment to get their unemployment payments. I called the unemployment office to let them know I have never applied for any type of unemployment and I am retired. It became apparent that someone has used my information to open an unemployment account without my knowledge,” said Faulds. My wife also received a US bank card a few days later so her information has also been compromised. We’re not sure how they got it because we don’t do anything online with our information.”
Connie Robinson is a widow living in Galion who is retired from the medical field.
“I received a call from my old bank. They had received a letter for me from the unemployment office about my benefits. I did not apply for any,” said Robinson.
She ended up finding out that unemployment claims had been filed in her name in Massachusetts, California and Texas.
“At least the unemployment office is smart in California and first sent a letter asking for more information to verify my identity. The other ones just issued the money to people in the bank accounts they set up,” said Robinson. “I have never worked in any of those states in my life.”
Robinson turned to her cousin and local attorney, Roberta Wade, for help since Wade specializes in employment law. Wade has offices in Galion and Columbus and is representing several clients who are dealing with unemployment fraud.
“This whole thing is a mess. The pandemic unemployment was not set up correctly from the beginning so the checks and balances that are in place in the regular unemployment system are not in place for this new type of unemployment. Anyone can apply without much verification, open a bank account and have the money deposited in it. They are stealing people’s identities to do this,” said Wade.
She said Ken Vizzo of Wooster is one of the many who are suffering because of this failed system.
Vizzo, who lives in Wooster with his wife who is battling cancer, has been a truck driver for 22 years.
“I lost my job due to the pandemic right at the beginning of it all. We have lost a vehicle because of the fact that I cannot get my unemployment approved since someone else has received nearly $12,000 in my name,” said Vizzo.
He turned to Wade for help after filing for unemployment in September of 2020 only to find out about the fraud.
“I call every week to the unemployment office to find out what is happening with my case. It is rare that I can even get through to an actual person and have been on hold for hours only to be told my account is still frozen and they are still working on it. My wife and I could really use that money but do not think we will ever see it,” said Vizzo.
Steve Siclair, owner of Galion Canvas, said the same thing about his pandemic unemployment.
“We had to close down at the beginning of the pandemic. Someone has fraudulently used my name to obtain benefits. I have been on hold with the unemployment office for four and five hours at a time and can’t get my situation resolved. I am about to just give up,” said Siclair.
Police reports have also been made about the fraud but it is basically just part of the process.
“I have not made one yet but I am going to because the unemployment office wants that to be done. The people who have stolen my information are not around here, though, so I don’t think it will do much good,” said Robinson.
None of the victims know how their information was compromised.
“Even the governor of our state and the Lt. Governor Jon Husted have had their information stolen and used for this pandemic unemployment. The federal government needs to create a better system before releasing more funds. It is like throwing money at the wind,” said Wade.
Figures released on Wednesday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) state that Ohio has lost at least $332 million to unemployment fraud in 2020 and that figure is set to increase as more people find out they have had fraudulent claims made in their names.
ODJFS officials said there will be many people throughout Ohio who will be receiving tax forms that state they received unemployment benefits that they never received.
For people like Vizzo and Siclair, who are still waiting on their legitimate claims to be approved, Wade said dummy accounts are supposed to be set up by the state so they can receive their legitimate benefits since their social security number has been used for the fraudulent accounts.
The response she continues to receive, along with Siclair and Vizzo, is that the state is working on it.
“The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) is supposed to be a financial safety net. But it is a failure. I can understand that there might be a fraud problem, as it happens in any government program, but this is a colossal fraud problem – billions of dollars. I would suspect that the PUA fraud is in the range of $ 250 – 350 billion, based on the information coming out. If a bank was robbed of billions of dollars, that would be front-page news,” said Wade.
According to the Ohio Unemployment Benefit Control unit, if you think you have been a victim of unemployment fraud, you can report it by calling the toll-free hotline at 1-800-686-1555 (Option 1), by faxing the information to 1-614-752-4808 or by clicking on any REPORT FRAUD link on this website.