
Feds Suspect Vast Fraud Network Is Targeting U.S. Unemployment Systems - boulos
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/16/us/coronavirus-unemployment-fraud-secret-service-washington.html
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boulos
This article confuses me though: aren’t almost all of these programs relying
on direct deposit information? That is, how do you as a scammer use just the
SSN and get the money out? Are unemployment funds arbitrarily re-routable?
(Multiple people in the story got _confirmation_ paperwork in the mail, but if
they’re allowing “sure, enter any bank account for the ACH transfer” that
seems surprising).

The article also has this at the end:

> The state has also implemented a two-day delay in payments to give workers
> more time to vet the claims.

Which seems to just attempt to solve this via “No, I didn’t apply for this”. I
get allowing people to say “I’d prefer it go to this account, rather than a
paper check”. But you’d also want to do verification for that, the same way
you should be more suspicious if someone suddenly: changes their email
address, changes their account information, attempts a massive withdrawal...

