PHOENIX (3 On Your Side) -- Arizona is investigating more than one million unemployment claims for possible fraud, 3 On Your Side has learned. It's a staggering portion of the 1.8 million initial Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims the state has received since March, and represents a significant spike compared to two weeks ago when the Department of Economic Security said the state was investigating hundreds of thousands' of suspicious claims.
Brett Bezio, a spokesperson for DES says claims may be flagged for possible fraud for several reasons including out of state addresses, invalid social security numbers, international IP addresses, and large numbers of claims using the same banking information.