The State Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR) is sending out letters to people who may have applied for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), in an effort to root out fraud.

PUA is the federally  funded program that pays unemployment benefits to people, such as the self-employed, who don’t qualify for standard unemployment insurance.  The State says that nationally and locally, imposters have been filing claims in the names of others.

The letter instructs the recipient to go onto the website pua.hawaii.gov whether they did or did not file a claim for PUA:

–If you did file a PUA claim, the system will ask for additional information.  You must provide additional information so the State knows you are entitled to receive or continue to receive benefits.

–If you did not file a PUA claim, the system will let you report the apparent fraud.  If you did file a claim, you should not report it as fraud, or you will not get the PUA benefits.

Some who are already receiving benefits may also get this letter, and must respond to avoid losing benefits.

These letters are because the State has had a number of fraudulent claims filed, as have other states, because of an international cybercrime ring targeting state unemployment systems.

The State says imposters submit fraudulent claims using identities (names, dates of birth, addresses and Social Security numbers) stolen in earlier data breaches (such as the Equifax breach of 2017). Often the thieves direct unemployment benefits to be deposited to a debit card. Each instance of fraud could go undetected for weeks or longer.

The scope of the fraud in Hawaii is under investigation.

The State DLIR website has a section with an explanation of PUA–click here to get there.