EDD

A woman who is serving a life sentence for murder in California is charged with masterminding a $2 million fraud scheme involving COVID-19 unemployment money from behind bars, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

California’s employment development department lost billions of dollars in unemployment benefits to fraud. EDD has addressed the huge backlog on unemployment claims but now it’s disability payments are slowed by efforts to fight fraud. Randy Mac reports for the NBC4 News at 6 p.m. on March 3, 2022.

California has given away at least $20 billion to criminals in the form of fraudulent unemployment benefits, state officials said Monday, confirming a number smaller than originally feared but one that still accounts for more than 11% of all benefits paid since the start of the pandemic.

The identity verification system used by the Employment Development Department requests many personal documents, but experts are warning about scammers trying to access the same information.

Most of the estimated $31 billion lost to fraud is connected to phony claims using stolen identities. Randy Mac reports for the NBC4 News on Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021.

There’s been a major appointment to head the state’s unemployment insurance fraud task force. Randy Mac reports for the NBC4 News on Thursday, July 22, 2021.

The California Employment Development Department is still viewed as a hot spot for fraud. The I-Team’s Randy Mac reports for NBC4 News at 11 p.m. on July 15, 2021.

Money is a leading cause of divorce, but it’s also at the root of the unhappy marriage between the Bank of America and California’s Employment Development Department. The bank has said publicly it wants nothing more to do with the EDD. 

Money is a leading cause of divorce. It’s also at the root of the unhappy marriage between the Bank of America and California’s Employment Development Department. Randy Mac reports for NBC4 News at 6 p.m. on July 9, 2021.

California will stop giving unemployment benefits to people who are not actively applying for jobs

Three women from the Inland Empire have pleaded guilty to using information belonging to other people, including California state prison inmates, to file for COVID-19 related unemployment benefits costing the state approximately $1.2 million.

Many say they have been waiting weeks or months for unemployment benefits or not getting an answer. Randy Mac reports for the NBC4 News on Wednesday, May 5, 2021.

Huntington Beach Mayor pro tem Tito Ortiz is under fire after the city confirms he filed a claim with the state’s Employment Development Department seeking unemployment benefits while still getting paid by the city. Hetty Chang reports for NBC4 News at 11 p.m. on May 3, 2021.

The I-Team looks into the continued delays and backlogs that people have been experiencing for the past 13 months while waiting on their unemployment benefits. Randy Mac reports for NBC4 News at 6 p.m. on April 30, 2021.

Several ATM skimming devices were discovered at local banks in Thousand Oaks targeting California unemployment debit cards, authorities said Thursday.

This is the latest frustration with the state agency. Randy Mac reports for the NBC4 News on Monday, March 22, 2021.

As if surviving the pandemic without a job isn’t hard enough, people trying to navigate the state’s unemployment agency system are dealing with a new meltdown Monday night: The I-Team has learned the website for the Employment Development Department has been failing off and on for days.

An LA County EDD employee was arrested and charged with theft by embezzlement, her alleged crimes occurred before the pandemic, but underscores the ongoing system weaknesses that led to all the fraud we’ve seen lately. Randy Mac reports for NBC4 News at 6 p.m. on March 19, 2021.

The $1.9 trillion stimulus bill has a primary goal in mind: to get money and aid to financially strapped Americans. Here’s a break-down some of the key areas earmarked to get cash in the hands of those who need it most.

It’s happened with wildfires and other natural disasters — scammers exploiting tragedies for profit — but this pandemic has taken fraud to a new level. I-team’s Randy Mac reports for NBC4 News at 11 p.m. on March 11, 2021.