California: Criminal rings loot billions in jobless funds

California officials say hackers, identity thieves and overseas criminal rings stole an estimated dollar 11.4 billion in unemployment benefits last year. California Labor Secretary Julie Su told reporters in a conference call Monday that of the dollar 114 billion the state has paid in unemployment claims during that time, about 10 has been confirmed as fraudulent.

California officials say hackers, identity thieves and overseas criminal rings stole an estimated dollar 11.4 billion in unemployment benefits last year. But the extent of the fraud might grow far larger: billions more in jobless payments are under investigation. California Labor Secretary Julie Su told reporters in a conference call Monday that of the dollar 114 billion the state has paid in unemployment claims during that time, about 10% has been confirmed as fraudulent. Nearly dollar 20 billion more is considered suspicious, and a large part could be confirmed as fraud. Su says the state did not have sufficient security measures in place and criminals took advantage of the gaps.