Enzi Concerned About Foreign Fraud Ring Targeting Unemployment Insurance in Wyoming

Press Release

U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., is seeking answers about how the Trump administration is responding to fraud and abuse by foreign entities when it comes to unemployment insurance.

"It's concerning that my state of Wyoming was a target for a foreign fraud ring," Enzi said at a Finance Committee hearing this week focused on unemployment insurance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia, who testified at the hearing, said the coronavirus has upended a lot of things, including the risk of fraud in the unemployment system. He said there are many different mechanisms in place to address the "highly sophisticated criminal enterprises that have engaged in fraud in the system."

"We are working with our inspector general, we've been working with other federal agencies and we've been working with the states," Scalia said. "We will continue to work on it hard. We know it's real. We know it's in some cases interfering with the delivery of benefits to people who are entitled to them, so we will stay on it."

In May, the Secret Service alerted several states that a well-organized Nigerian fraud ring was carrying out a sophisticated attack to fraudulently apply for and receive millions of dollars in unemployment insurance. Washington state was the main target, but there was evidence of attacks in six other states, including Wyoming.

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