Fraud during the big coronavirus cash pay out caused the state to freeze 350,000 debit cards filled with money for unemployment benefits.
The employment development department says the debit cards were frozen for several reasons. One reason, a high number of claims issued at a single address.
The claims were part of the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program that sent out $105 billion dollars in benefits since march.
The EDD has processed 15.2 million claims since March, which is four times greater than the number issued in 2010, during the great recession. In one week in August, the state had more than 400,000 pandemic unemployment assistance claims.
In Beverly Hills, police arrested 100 people for fraud. They recovered 200 debit cards and more than one half million dollars in cash.
Rapper “Nuke Bizzle” has been arrested on federal charges related to allegations he used stolen identities to apply for more than $1.2 million dollars in unemployment benefits. Fontrell Antonio Baines also uploaded a song on YouTube that included the lyrics, “Unemployment So Sweet”.
