South Raleigh News

North Carolina residents have been waiting for help from the Division of Employment Security, while others are victims of scammer collecting unemployment benefits by using other people's identities. 

As if waiting for unemployment help the Division of Employment Security hasn't been stressful enough, those unemployed workers are competing with scammers who are reportedly collecting unemployment payments. Samantha Wilson, an office manager for RHC Construction and Realty works 60 hours a week, even through the COVID-19 pandemic, WRAL reported on Aug. 11. 

When her boss at RHC Construction and Realty "asked me did I file for unemployment, I thought he was joking," Wilson told WRAL. 

Wilson's boss received an unemployment claim from the Division of Employment Security, which listed Wilson's information, including her Social Security number, A scammer had used Wilson's information to file for unemployment benefits, which made her frustrated.

"Because I’m going to have to pay taxes on someone else getting my money," she told WRAL.

Wilson reported it as fraud and the agent she spoke with said she would mark it as so. 

But a few weeks later, she found out the unemployment claim was still paid to the scammer, WRAL reported. Wilson tried to contact the department again after learning the claim was paid. 

"But whoever has hijacked my identity, has hijacked the website, so I can’t get in," she told WRAL. "The bigger picture here is how many claims are being fraudulently filed and how much money North Carolina is losing."

The department currently has 870 suspected fraud cases marker, with thousands more on hold because they look suspicious, WRAL reported. Many claims have a listed Florida address, which the department is stopping. 

"I want someone to do something to stop this money from leaving the state and going to someone who doesn’t deserve it," Wilson told WRAL.