COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services has recovered more than $397 million in unemployment benefits misplaced through fraudulent claims and scammers, a department spokesperson announced Thursday.
The announcement comes after a state auditor found more than $3.8 billion in unemployment benefits were misspent due to a "lack of controls" on behalf of the department.
The auditor said changes to federal requirements during the pandemic were partly to blame for ODJFS allowing more than $475 million to be fraudulently paid, as well as an additional $3.3 billion in overpayments.
Of the funds recovered, ODJFS said roughly $111 million was seized through an internal investigation, as well as independent investigations conducted by financial institutions. An additional $238.5 million in funds were recovered that officials said were never distributed due to safeguards put in place.
Federal law enforcement seized an additional $30.2 million and the remaining $17.8 million was returned voluntarily, ODJFS said.
“The recovery of these funds is proof that Ohio continues to collect taxpayer dollars and pursue every avenue to give victims of identity theft justice,” said ODJFS Director Matt Damschroder.
The department created the Public Private Partnership team in 2021 to combat unemployment fraud. The team is comprised of financial services professionals and has since put in place measures such as identity and multi-factor authentication.
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