Stop Identity Fraud In Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Benefits | Comply With The CARES Act 2021

Many government agencies still use legacy knowledge-based authentication systems to verify people’s identities when applying for unemployment benefits.However, the verification process when using such systems is already compromised because they rely on a person’s social security number, address, date of birth, and tax filing status, information that hackers can easily access.

When fraudsters apply for unemployment benefits, they can use other people’s personal details to verify their identities and receive their undeserved money. Such a thing happened when Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act to help eligible applicants survive the pandemic.

Many people suddenly lost their jobs thanks to the pandemic, and the CARES Act was passed to help them during the current crisis. However, many criminals also saw this as the perfect time to commit identity fraud and steal other people’s unemployment benefits. State agencies collectively lost 36 billion dollars to fraudsters since their fraud prevention efforts have multiple vulnerabilities.

Government agencies can mitigate the risk of grifters stealing from the CARES Act’s second stimulus package rolloutusingonline identity verification and biometric identification solutions.UsingFast Identity Online or FIDO authentication solutions will help with the verification process and eliminate the risk of fraudsters getting verified with the information they stole.

Once the agencies know the applicants’ identity, they should validate whether they are eligible for the CARES Act using modern automated technologies. Legacy systems are too slow, incompatible with new software, and prone to human error, resulting in slower stimulus package releases. Automated solutions can efficiently collect data from multiple reliable sources to prove whether the applicant is qualified to receive government benefits.

It is also advisable to use modern data analytics to streamline the detection, interpretation, and communication of data patterns to prevent identity fraud. Officials can use the information from the analytics to alert them of any unusual activities and stop fraud more efficiently.

Replacing older systems is key to preventing identity fraud and streamliningthe authentication process to see whether the applicant is eligible or not. It allows state agencies to use the necessary solutions for the job. For more information, see this infographic by authID.ai