California suspends some disability claims, citing fraud

(KYMA, KECY/ AP News) - In California, scammers have now moved on to impersonating doctors to dupe officials into giving them disability checks.

This all after stealing the identities of death row inmates and even a sitting U.S. Senator to make off with billions of dollars in fraudulent unemployment benefits during the pandemic.

State officials said they had suspended 345,000 disability claims while they worked to verify the identity of about 27,000 doctors whose credentials were used to file disability claims for purported patients.

This is now affecting legitimate claims from people who can’t work because of an injury or are taking paid maternity leave. Those people's checks have stopped while state officials try to sort out legitimate claims versus most of the suspended claims that are likely fraudulent.

According to the Employment Development Department, criminals in the state used stolen identities to steal at least $20 billion in unemployment benefits since march 2020.

So now the  department said Thursday it is working with medical organizations to make sure doctors know about the verification process, calling it their “top priority.”