COLUMBUS – The state reported Thursday that an additional 147,002 Ohioans filed claims for first-time unemployment benefits last week, but nearly one in four of them may be fraudulent.
At least 33,000 of the claims filed during the week that ended on Feb. 13, or approximately 22%, have been flagged for potential fraud, on top of 44,000 targeted for investigation the week before, according to data from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
The agency’s Office of Unemployment Insurance Operations is investigating all claims that were flagged for potential fraud and taking steps to implement more robust identity verification, including bringing in a team of over a dozen private-sector workers to help shore up the system’s security and data-processing operations.
Anyone who suspects their identity was compromised and used to file a fraudulent unemployment claim is urged to report it to the department immediately by visiting unemployment.ohio.gov and clicking the “Report Identity Theft” button or by calling (833) 658-0394.
The total number of initial claims was 5% higher than the week before.
Ohioans filed 307,923 continued jobless claims last week, an increase of 2%. In addition, 244,758 Ohioans received federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment aid rose last week to 861,000, evidence that layoffs remain painfully high despite a steady drop in the number of confirmed viral infections.