Ohio has a new weapon to detect bogus claims by the few people who try to scam the state for unemployment checks each year.
The state uses new hire reports from employers, cross matches with prison and jail records and other government documents to try to detect fraud. Bret Crowe with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services says it’s adding another tool by partnering with a national data hub.
“This helps the state’s unemployment systems identify fictitious claims or fraudulent claims by searching for matching data used in fraud claims in other states. So we are tied into a national database of unemployment claims," Crowe says.
Crowe says there’s no cost for the service and about two dozen states have taken advantage of it. More than 200,000 Ohioans apply for benefits each year. Crowe says about a little over 1 percent last year were found to be fraudulent.
