PHOENIX — Unemployment checks are delayed for many who filed this week. It’s the latest in a slew of problems the Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES) has been dealing with.
Travis Watts, a Valley rideshare driver, has been experiencing the problems first hand.
“I can’t even explain to you the frustration and the stress that this causes,” Watts said.
Watts filed for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, known as PUA, back in mid-May and received his qualifying letter. His portal shows one payment went through, but Watts says he never got it.
“I’ve been filing weekly certifications every week and I haven’t received a penny,” Watts said. “I haven’t received any information.”
Watts says when he was able to get through to someone at DES, he said he was told there was an investigation on his account, but as deadlines DES gave him passed, the calls he’s made since have left the father of four with no answers.
“Every time from that point out they were all saying in progress,” Watts said.
On the flip side, Amy Amy and Tobey Amy said they got a debit card loaded with more than $6,000 sent to them from DES and Bank of America.
The letter and card are under Amy’s maiden name.
“The lady right away was like, ‘Yeah, that’s your card for your unemployment claim. That’s the money that’s been funded to you,’” Amy said. “And I was like, ‘I haven’t filed for unemployment.’”
Amy said she was passed off from the bank to DES to local police, and she still doesn’t have an answer on how to get the money back to DES.
“I am grateful to be gainfully employed and that’s not an issue for me, but I want to help people that are not,” Amy said.
DES told 12 News that if you receive a debit card for unemployment benefits and you did not file for unemployment, you’re likely a victim of identity theft. DES says people should report fraud here, and destroy the card they received.
This is all happening in the midst of DES posting on their website and on Twitter that PUA payments are delayed this week. According to the notification the Department is continuing to work on efforts to fight fraud.
But both Watts and the Amy’s are concerned that they’re not alone.
“The thing that bothers me the most, knowing that my position here, I can only imagine how many other people are going through the same situation right now,” Watts said.
“I also worry that it’s going to continue to compound so that every week these people get a weekly expansive payout so now the $6,000 is just going to continue to compound to thousands of more dollars until it’s yanked,” Tobey Amy said.
12 News did contact DES about the issues both Watts and the Amy’s are having.
DES issued a statement that read in part:
The Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES) has seen a significant increase in fraudulent activity in which individuals are filing unemployment insurance claims using stolen personal information. Individuals who suspect UI fraud can submit a report to DES here. Fraudsters worldwide are using phishing scams, personally identifiable information obtained from previous corporate data breaches and other malicious tactics to collect information from individuals across the country, to file for UI benefits in multiple states. From February 2020 to date, there have been 251 confirmed cases of UI fraud related to identity theft in Arizona. Confirmed cases for this time period continue to increase as more referrals for potential fraud are investigated and fraudulent behavior is discovered.
With regards to the delay in processing Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims this week: The Department continues to balance the urgent need to get benefits to Arizonans with ensuring program integrity and reducing fraud to the extent possible. Given that the file for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance payments for this past weekend alone reached over $750 million, the Department made the decision to hold payments and evaluate claims for any indications of fraud before issuing the funds. The Department assessed all claims received over the weekend to determine those that contained possible fraud and are in the process of releasing payments for those that did not trigger a fraud indicator.