[ti:Criminals Steal Billions in California Unemployment Payments] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]Officials in California say criminals stole over $11 billion [00:07.44]in unemployment benefits last year. [00:11.72]But that amount could grow far larger [00:15.40]as billions more in payments are investigated. [00:19.32]California Labor Secretary Julie Su told reporters recently [00:26.60]that the state paid about $114 billion [00:32.36]in unemployment claims in 2020. [00:36.40]Of that amount, about 10 percent [00:40.80]— or $11.4 billion — was confirmed to have been fraud. [00:48.68]Fraud is the crime of using dishonest methods, [00:52.84]such as using a false identity, to take something valuable. [00:58.60]Su said nearly $20 billion more — another 17 percent [01:05.24]— is considered suspicious. [01:08.40]A large part of that money could also have been fraud. [01:13.84]Su said California did not have [01:16.92]the correct “security measures in place [01:20.24]to prevent this level of fraud, [01:23.20]and criminals took advantage of the situation.” [01:27.96]Nearly all of the fraudulent claims were made [01:32.04]through the federally supported [01:34.88]Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program. [01:38.72]The program, approved by Congress, [01:42.80]provides unemployment benefits to people [01:46.44]who are usually not able to receive them, [01:50.24]such as independent contractors. [01:53.72]But, officials say, the program’s wide eligibility requirements [02:00.16]make it an easy target of criminals, [02:03.68]including individuals from Nigeria and Russia. [02:09.12]Su admitted that the state [02:11.48]was unprepared for such criminal activity. [02:16.24]She also blamed the Trump administration [02:19.92]for failing to give the state the support needed [02:23.92]to stop experienced fraud groups. [02:27.52]She said a series of measures put in place last year [02:32.60]had blocked billions of dollars in possible fraud plans. [02:38.76]The state also has been trying to clear [02:42.28]a large number of unemployment claims [02:45.84]— more than 940,000 as of January 20. [02:52.08]Officials noted that similar fraud problems [02:55.88]were widespread in other parts of the U.S. as well. [03:00.80]Washington state was among the first hit [03:03.88]with fraudulent unemployment claims [03:07.20]believed to be tied to a West African fraud group. [03:12.24]The group uses identities stolen in past data attacks, [03:18.24]such as the 2017 Equifax incident. [03:23.16]In Washington, more than $600 million dollars [03:27.92]were lost from around 122,000 false claims. [03:34.24]The state was able to get back [03:36.88]around $357 million of that money [03:42.08]by cooperating with federal law enforcement [03:45.68]and financial companies across the country. [03:50.84]Investigators across California [03:53.92]have been targeting unemployment fraud in recent months. [03:59.32]On Monday, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer [04:04.88]announced charges against two business owners [04:09.08]who opened up a store in order to file false unemployment claims. [04:15.16]Spitzer also announced the prosecution of eight people, [04:20.76]including six state prisoners, [04:23.76]in two other unemployment fraud operations. [04:28.48]This week, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi [04:32.92]and California Senators Dianne Feinstein [04:36.92]and Alex Padilla urged President Joe Biden [04:41.36]to create a federal group to help states stop [04:45.56]organized criminal fraud in unemployment claims. [04:50.40]“California and many other states [04:54.08]are experiencing fraud at a much greater rate [04:57.76]than previously understood,” they wrote. [05:02.60]I’m John Russell. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM