SACRAMENTO (KNX) — Fraudsters are once again targeting funds from the California Employment Development Department (EDD) by working to steal personal information and file false disability insurance claims.
EDD details the scheme on Dec. 14, saying the criminals were stealing information from individuals, in addition to medical and health providers, the organizations that “certify the existence of a disability that an applicant reports when seeking disability insurance benefits from EDD.”
“The Department saw a recent rise in new online medical and health provider account registrations and strongly suspects most of those registrations were fraudulent,” said Ronald Washington, EDD’s Disability Insurance Deputy Director.
Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert issued a warning Monday, saying several county residents reported receiving letters from EDD about accounts opened in their name when they had never applied.
“It’s important to make our community aware of yet another attempt by criminals to steal taxpayer EDD funds from those who need really need it,” Schubert said. “I hope by alerting the public, we can prevent victims of this newest scam and protect EDD dollars.”
For the time being, EDD is suspending payments on certain claims until it can verify information, in addition to boosting the vetting process for medical and health providers, according to a statement.
“The filters will slow the process of registering new providers and may impact the time it takes for legitimate claimants to receive benefits,” the department said, adding that at this time there is no evidence to indicate that state medical or health providers were knowingly involved in the fraudulent claims.
Anyone who believes they have been a target of the fraudsters is asked to to file a fraud report. To do so, click here and select the “Report Fraud” category to complete the reporting form.
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