Chambana Sun

Rep. Thomas Bennett voiced his thoughts about how the Illinois Department of Employment Security mishandled unemployment benefits.

“Federal report calls out IDES for failing to disclose data on misspending,” Bennett wrote on Facebook.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported internet criminals have stolen approximately $1.9 billion in federal money for unemployed Illinoisans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In May, Bennett spoke out about more than $1 million that IDES handed out to individuals who were collecting benefits fraudulently.

"Records show Illinois Department of Employment Security lost $1.2 million in taxpayer money to fraudsters," he said in a Facebook post this week.

David Maimon, a criminology professor at Georgia State University, told Chicago Sun-Times he’s seen folk gloat that they were successful in their crime on the dark web.

“We see many identities, many bank accounts, many driver’s licenses that are associated with Illinois residents,” Maimon said to Chicago Sun-Times.

CBS fought with IDES to learn just how unemployment benefits related to the pandemic were distributed. 

Records show IDES lost $1.2 million in taxpayer money to fraudsters in Chicago.

The State of Illinois sent more than $1.2 million in unemployment benefits to fraudsters' accounts, while many who were unemployed waited months -- and sometimes longer -- for money they were owed.

For the first time, IDES was forced to turn over data to CBS 2 that shed light on the scope of unemployment fraud, which the agency has failed to prevent since the start of the pandemic.

In March, CBS 2 first uncovered multiple instances where claimants' bank accounts were hacked and their benefits sent to fraudsters' accounts.

STL News reported IDES reported the unemployment rate dropped by 0.1%.

Even in June 2021, the agency refused to give information to CBS2. Illinois was then ranked in the bottom two states for reporting unemployment fraud in the unemployment program specifically created during the COVID-19 pandemic.