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Showing posts with label DWD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DWD. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 15, 2022

A Reader’s Request for help with Unemployment Insurance

Good  evening everyone. We have never done this before but a reader posted a comment to a previous blog post, requesting help dealing with their unemployment insurance payment issue. It sounds to us as if the person really needs some help with this issue. We will repost the text of their comment below. If anyone out there has any helpful suggestions or advice on how best to help this person, please either post a comment to this post, or reach out to us by using the contact form on the web version of this blog, or email us at 6vwts@notsharingmy.info

Here’s the reader’s request for help:

So, I am wondering why or how there is not a ClassAction Suit against the State of Indiana for this problem? I recently received (2.10.22), an Appeals form dated 2.2.10 (I live central Indy), and, it is forcing me to reply by 2.21.22 a.m., which means, I get about 3 Business days in which to pull together, ALL of the unbelievable errors, misdirectives, problems, hangups, so on, that occurred when I was receiving PUA (Pandemic Unemployment Assistance) Funds. Because some of the PUA Questions are worded very strangely (in fact, the confused wording by PUA, it seems intentional), I took the extra efforts in each Voucher-Filing, to Copied then Emailed the Voucher pages of PUA, over to both PUA Dept & the Special Claims Dept. Even then, I always & only got back a very impersonal & non-related reply (form response). In the following week, I'd get these calls from DWD PUA, or others, acting as if they were "testing" me... I was always just trying to make sense of their manner of questioning... Then, they'd admit, "Yes, some of these PUA questions online, they're very confusing...you're not the only Claimant who does not understand them." So on. This appeals now, it's trying to FORCE the impossible from on my end. Even if, ALL of the rest of my life activities are stopped, I still could not product the necessary documents, getting them also over to an attorney, within the ridiculous time span of 3 days. The Appeals also says, "...we aren't allowing for change-of-dates on the appeal (extensions), unless it is an emergency. They have had 4-5 months to respond, and they put this appeals out late, and give me 3 days to do something about it. I'm requesting the change of date... It is very much a bullying-type behavior. Oh, and to add to all of this, a comical note: often when I spoke with DWD employees, all this past year, it was clear they were being told that, they could be allowed to respond to Claimants' questions. Such as, I, Claimant offer up a very simple question to Customer rep, and they say, "Just a minute, I have to see if I am allowed to answer your question..." "Allowed?!" What? You could say, "Is the color of snow white?" They would say, "Just a minute...to see I can answer that question for you..." Very troubling, to constantly be met with employees who are on some kind of bazaar lockdown. In fact, they are, a few of them told me. This is not the 1940s, is it? We do speak English, don't we? If anyone is interested in helping one another, even if only as witnesses to so much of how wrong it all keeps going... please respond on this site.


Monday, March 8, 2021

Victims of Unemployment Fraud Forced to Fight Indiana’s Workforce Development System



As if here in honest to goodness Indiana the state isn’t being run badly enough, the Hoosier state’s ineptly run Department of Workforce Development (DWD) is doing it’s part to cause more unnecessary pain and anguish to Indiana taxpayers. Back on February 4th, 2021 Bob Segall over at WTHR reported on how the state is failing to provide adequate customer service to those who are the victims of unemployment insurance fraud.

Segall reports

For many Hoosiers who find themselves out of work because of COVID-19, getting laid off has not been the most frustrating aspect of the pandemic.

“As of September 1, we were all out of jobs,” said Erin Fisher-Leser, a compliance specialist who was laid off this fall by an Indianapolis travel management company. “There I was, filing for unemployment for the first time in a really, really long time, and when I tried to file online, I was locked out of the system.”

Yvonne Matlock tells the same story. The pandemic triggered job cuts at the healthcare facility where she worked as a fundraiser. And even though Yvonne received a severance package, former co-workers encouraged her to begin the process of establishing an account with the state unemployment office.

“My last day of employment was Nov. 6,” she told 13News. “Right away I got online to set up my account and it said I already had an account. I couldn’t even set anything up. I knew something was wrong.”

Erin and Yvonne quickly discovered why they could not set up accounts to file unemployment claims with the Indiana Department of Workforce Development: somebody had already beat them to it.

“Someone had opened an account on the 29th of June under my previous married name of over 30 years ago. They also set up bank account routing information,” Erin said.

“Someone filed a claim using my Social Security number in Philadelphia,” Yvonne explained. “I’ve never lived in Philadelphia in my life, so when I talked to someone at the unemployment office, I said ‘No, that’s not me.’”

Yvonne and Erin are victims of a widespread cyber fraud scheme that has diverted tens of billions of dollars in unemployment assistance away from the laid-off workers who need it most. It is happening all across the country. But here in Indiana, state officials are hesitant to discuss the scope of the problem, and 13 Investigates has discovered Indiana’s unemployment system often revictimizes the unemployed workers it is supposed to help.

Segall goes onto report that Yvonne and Erin have spent countless hours trying to email and call DWD and speak to the Fraud Investigators or someone to help get these issues resolved so they can collect unemployment. But as Yvonne said: “I feel like they don’t care, that they just really don’t care,” Yvonne told 13News. “When you call, you get a different person every time. It’s like you’re not even a number to them. You’re just a person on the other end of the phone,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes.

Unfortunately as Segall reports Yvonne and Erin are some of only many, many victims of unemployment insurance fraud:

“This is the largest cyber attack in terms of fraud in American history. Period,” said Blake Hall, a security expert who founded ID.me, a company that is now helping Indiana DWD and other state unemployment offices fend off massive amounts of fraud. “You have organized crime rings from Russia, from China, from Nigeria, from Ghana, as well as a lot of domestic identity thieves, and they’re all working together on the dark web. They’re sharing information about how each state works to defraud the state, and they just follow a playbook.”

Now of course Bob Segall and WTHR have tried to contact DWD directly and speak with them about the issues that the state is having with unemployment insurance fraud, but as has been the custom since the election of “Godfather” Governor Mitch Daniels, DWD refuses to be transparent with we the people:

13 Investigates contacted DWD in early December 2020 to ask how big this problem is across Indiana. Specifically, 13News asked how many fraudulent unemployment claims the department had received, how much of the $6.48 billion in 2020 unemployment payouts went to con artists trying to scam Indiana’s PUA (Pandemic Unemployment Assistance) program, and the steps DWD takes when it determines that an unemployment claim has been filed by an individual using another person’s Social Security number.

It appears Indiana’s Department of Workforce Development either doesn’t know the answers to those questions or will not publicly release the information. Two months after receiving WTHR’s request submitted under the Indiana Access to Public Records Act, DWD has not answered any of 13News’ questions and has repeatedly refused to meet with 13 Investigates to discuss the issue.

On Jan. 7, DWD spokesman Bob Birge told 13News “I hope to have some answers for you shortly,” and when asked again a week later, Birge wrote “Will check on your APRA request.” He has not responded since. The governor’s office also declined a request for an interview.

Segall also points out that “ state officials in Colorado, Ohio and Colorado are willing to openly discuss their unemployment fraud numbers, state leaders in Indiana have, so far, chosen not to release that type of information.”

It appears though that Segall and 13 News have gotten someone’s attention at DWD because DWD Commissioner Fredrick Payne decided to come down from his thrown and actually say something to Segall:

“We’ve become targets of fraudsters and scammers,” Payne said while discussing the state’s unemployment program during the governor’s weekly COVID-19 virtual press conference. “Seventy-one percent of current PUA claims have fraud indicators that require additional investigation.”

Since the DWD Commissioner refused to given any concrete information about the extend of the fraud issues with Indiana’s Unemployment System, Segall and WTHR obtained a list of identity theft complaints related to unemployment fraud from the Indiana Attorney General’s Office.

Segall goes onto say: 

According to the AG’s data, the first unemployment identity theft complaints in Indiana came in late April, just a few weeks after DWD implemented the federal PUA program. In June, the AG’s office received 14 complaints of identity theft linked to unemployment claims. By December, Hoosiers were filing more than 550 complaints per month – a nearly 4,000% increase.

So what is DWD doing to combat the increased unemployment fraud? Well for the answer to that you will have come back for tomorrow’s blog post where we will be discussing this issue more in depth. Till tomorrow this is the Indy Republican crew signing off.





Thursday, May 31, 2018

Tribalist Mitch Daniels urges Graduates to Reject Tribalism

Three weeks ago David Bangert of the Lafayette Courier & Journal reported that former Indiana Governor now Purdue University President Mitch Daniels in a speech he gave to this years graduating class a call for people to resist political tribalism.

From Bangert's report:

The biggest challenge facing this graduating class, Daniels said, “will involve the repair and renewal of trust among ourselves as a people.” Daniels’ speech was set along themes similar to his commencement addresses from recent springs. (Purdue tradition holds that the president gives most commencement speeches, rather than calling on guest speakers.) He called the class of 2018 new aristocrats, privileged elites “of a knowledge economy” who might well be tempted “unintentionally to segregate from their less blessed, less well educated fellow citizens.” 

Daniels had some other things to share with this year's graduating class:

“As we trust each other less, trust in the institutions of our society has eroded in parallel.  Almost no sector – government, business, the media, even higher education – has escaped a steep drop in public confidence.  Some constant vigilance and skepticism about centers of authority is a healthy, all-American instinct.  But ultimately, to function effectively as a free and self-governing people, we must maintain some degree of faith that our institutions and those leading them have our best interests at heart, and are performing their duties with sincerity and integrity.  And today, we plainly lack such faith.

“There are plenty of culprits here, starting with too many who have misused positions of authority.  The so-called social media – I have come to think of it as ‘antisocial media’ – enables and encourages hostility from the insulated enclave of a smartphone or a laptop.  People say things to and about each other that they would never say face to face, or maybe even think, if they knew each other personally. 

“Our various modern media lead us to, and feed us from, information sources that reinforce our existing biases.  They put us in contact with other tribe members, but rarely those who see things differently.  We’re starting to resemble ominously our primitive forbearers, trusting no one outside the tribe.
Daniels has no business lecturing anybody about the dangers of tribalism. During his eight year "Reign of Error" as Governor he was the ultimate tribalist and political hack insider. His ego is so enormous that he had his face plastered throughout every state agency and government building. His bungling of FSSA, DCS, the BMV, and his creation of the IEDC the ultimate tool in which to give away taxpayer money to those who bow before this pathetic runt of a man. Daniels misuses his authority everywhere he goes. Who can forgot the still questionable conduct of the Department of Child Services years ago involving the tragic death of Tajanay Bailey? A sad story which we, Paul Ogden and Gary Welsh have all written about. Mitch Daniels may preach about unity, and individualism when it suits him. Don't be fooled! He is an evil nasty little troll who deserves nothing less then the excoriation not the following of Hoosiers.

An old friend of IR's who  has detailed knowledge of the inner workers of the Daniels Cartel had this reaction to Daniels speech:

Haha...he would know all about tyranny...his first step everywhere he goes is to consolidate agencies/divisions under lt. Governor under him, try to end more local Gov’t to help him consolidate power into fewer local offices so he can have B&T push their folks to control easier and then move all the Purdue of Purdue foundation money into a new entity so it was easier for him to control...would say the Mitch Mafia could be characterized as a tribe...or a personality cult

Unfortunately the high priest of the Cult of Mitch, Eric "High Tax" Holcomb is now our Governor. Hold onto your wallets and liberties before old Eric takes them all away. Our sources tell us there is more trouble brewing for DCS. Will let you know if we hear anything. Once again this is IR and the Gang wishing you all a good night!