Beginning in the spring of 2020, Ulster County began receiving an influx of unemployment insurances claims as compared to periods past. Additionally, many of the claims were clearly fraudulent, as they were for employees actively employed by the County. The Comptroller’s Office received several complaints from employees who claimed they were not notified by the Personnel Department of the fraudulent claims filed in their names in a timely way. After some additional investigation, it was determined that this increase in fraudulent claims was not unique to Ulster County, as the New York State Department of Labor (NYS DOL) reported receiving more fraudulent claims during this period than any other period in recent history. As a result in this increase in claims activity and the existence of a high number of fraudulent claims, the Office of the Ulster County Comptroller initiated an audit of unemployment claims processing…
