As states struggle with an unprecedented flood of jobless claims amid the COVID-19 pandemic, cyber criminals are targeting unemployment insurance sites with fraudulent claims in order to illegally siphon money, according to the US Secret Service.
More than 36 million Americans have filed for unemployment in the past eight weeks as coronavirus-related shutdowns lead to layoffs across the US. Meanwhile, states have struggled to meet the high demand with limited staffing and archaic unemployment websites — and criminals have taken advantage of the chaos.
A Secret Service spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider on Monday that the agency's electronic crimes task force had identified "criminal actors targeting state unemployment insurance program funds" using stolen personal information.