More of your tax dollars are in the hands of cybercriminals.
We don’t just report the initial story—we follow through to its conclusion. Read and watch our previous reporting on this story below and see more stories that we've followed through on here.
The Department of Ohio Job and Family Services has paid out close to $200,000 in bogus unemployment claims due to a security breach.
News 5 Investigator Sarah Buduson has been digging into issues with the state's unemployment system since the pandemic started. Finding out more about the security breach is a part of her commitment to following through.
News 5 has been covering this same security breach for two weeks. It's the same breach that caused the ODJFS to freeze benefits for close to 30,000 legitimately unemployed Ohioans.
According to ODJFS, over the last three weeks, there has been a spike in the number of attempts to fraudulently access Ohio unemployment accounts.
ODJFS says the security flaw that caused tax money to end up in the wrong hands has since been fixed.
The agency says the root cause was a code flaw in the Ohio job Insurance System that cybercriminals tried to exploit.
After noticing suspicious activity, the agency locked more than 28,0000 unemployment accounts. But that also left legitimate users without access to their unemployment benefits.
Users like Stephen Lessick told us last week he is worried about how long it will take for his benefits to become available again.
"Will I be able to pay my mortgage? Will I be able to go grocery shopping? Can I pay the medical bills that are coming next week? "
In a new release, ODJFS says they are working to restore access to users like Lessick.
The agency says that everyone who is locked out of their unemployment account should have received an email with instructions on how to verify their identity online so they can begin receiving benefits.
If you're still having problems with your unemployment account give the News 5 investigative team a call at 1-888-WEWS-TIP.
