Huge Washington unemployment fraud warning to other states

SEATTLE (AP) — The first word Seattle political consultant Dayna Lurie had that someone filed for unemployment benefits in her name was when her boss called.

“Did you quit without telling me?" he asked. “We got an unemployment form from the state of Washington saying you don't work here anymore.”

It turned out that, like thousands of Washington state residents, Lurie's identity was used by criminals seeking to capitalize on a flood of legitimate unemployment claims by sneaking in fraudulent ones.

Washington's race to help newly laid-off residents as the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the economy left it vulnerable to such scams, and last week officials hinted at the scope of the damage done: hundreds of millions of dollars paid out in fake claims. Much of it apparently went to a West African fraud ring using identities stolen in prior data breaches, such as the massive 2017 Equifax breach.

State and federal authorities have tried to claw back as much money as possible and say they have blocked hundreds of millions more from being paid out, but Washington's experience is nevertheless a cautionary tale.

“Our intel says Washington was the first state they went after, but we are seeing the number of states being attacked expand day by day," said Patrick Peterson, chief executive of the California cyber security firm Agari, which has monitored the Nigerian fraud group, dubbed Scattered Canary.

By late last week, attacks had been detected in at least nine states, most recently Ohio and Hawaii, he said. In many cases, the fraudsters have used identities of people who haven't lost their jobs — so they aren't likely to immediately notice someone else filing in their name. They've been able to have the money sent to prepaid debit cards associated with bank accounts, from which they can have it transferred...