Unemployment Scamming Is Easy

I'm providing the link to the story both because I don't want to be accused of plagiarizing copyrighted material and because there is a lot of other information there that I can't copy and paste.

https://money.yahoo.com/scammers-siphoned-36b ... -110126181.html

USA TODAY
How scammers siphoned $36B in fraudulent unemployment payments from US
Nick Penzenstadler, USA TODAY
Wed, December 30, 2020, 6:01 AM EST·1 min read
In a Zoom session with the camera turned off, Mayowa describes how he scoops up U.S. unemployment benefits fattened by COVID-19 relief, an international imposter attack that has contributed to at least $36 billion being siphoned away from out-of-work Americans.

Mayowa is an engineering student in Nigeria who estimates he’s made about $50,000 since the pandemic began. After compiling a list of real people, he turns to databases of hacked information that charge $2 in cryptocurrency to link that name to a date of birth and Social Security number.

Video: Scammers see coronavirus pandemic as opportunity to target PCs, smartphones
In most states that information is all it takes to file for unemployment. Even when state applications require additional verification, a little more money spent on sites such as FamilyTreeNow and TruthFinder provides answers – your mother’s maiden name, where you were born, your high school mascot. Mayowa said he is successful about one in six times he files a claim.

“Once we have that information, it’s over,” Mayowa said. “It’s easy money.”

Mayowa agreed to take USA TODAY inside the fraud in an interview arranged by security firm Agari, using only his first name to hide his identity. The security company gives him another source of cash: It pays him in Bitcoin to provide information about active scams.

And what would be the best way to protect oneself against such scams?

Simple awareness is how people can protect themselves, but this is about how foreigners have pretended to be US Citizens and collected Unemployment as the citizen. Check to see if there is a claim filed already, if you did not file.

Start from treating this as an ID Theft Problem that got much worse.
If unemployment benefits are being paid, you should be getting a LOT of mail. So one big tip is your address was changed. The crooks want to payments coming to them, not your real address.
You would want to check with Social Security and the IRS about any address changes that were made. Also your state offices for taxation and/or finance and state benefits offices.
I believe credit monitoring companies and help you know if your address has been changed, and there may be ways to lock your address from unauthorized changes.  Make sure your email address have not been changed as well, since some agencies relay on email.