ALBANY, N.Y. — New York State released information Thursday about a new verification tool it says will speed up the unemployment claim process and help decrease unemployment fraud.
ID.me is a new web tool the state will use to verify New Yorkers' identities when they apply for unemployment.
Before this tool, some New Yorkers had to email or fax in ID documents, and someone at the Department of Labor would actually look at every document that came in. This tool will replace that.
"This new ID verification tool and these additional resources add to the Department of Labor's constantly-expanding arsenal of weapons to combat fraud," State Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon said.
The new tool is simple: you file an unemployment claim, and you get a text or email from the DOL with a link to verify your identity.
So how real is unemployment fraud? The state says that the Department of Labor has stopped over 521,000 fraudulent claims that totaled $6.4 billion in payments during the pandemic.
"Every day, we leverage highly experienced investigators, artificial intelligence, and other sophisticated techniques to identify fraud as quickly as possible, stop these criminals in their tracks, and protect New Yorkers' unemployment system," Reardon said.
The state has also launched a new web page for New Yorkers about how to identify and prevent identity theft and fraud. You can see that by clicking here.
If you ever receive a monetary determination letter from the DOL but didn't apply for benefits, you should report that, the state says. Criminals often use real New Yorkers data that was stolen to apply for these fake claims. You can report that fraud by clicking here.