KANSAS CITY, Mo. —
We're getting a look at just how bad the fraud was inside the Kansas Department of Labor. Hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars were wasted.
"We wasted a lot of federal taxpayer dollars," said state Rep. Sean Tarwater, of Stilwell.
According to the private audit released to state officials on Wednesday, between 2020 and 2022 the state of Kansas paid out close to $450 million in fraudulent unemployment benefit claims.
"It was along the lines of our post audit that we did in-house. The number was a little lower, but the way that they came about it was genuine enough that it's a good solid number," Tarwater said.
Some of that money went to people who were not eligible to receive benefits, and, in many cases, Kansas residents were victims of identity fraud. The state's system was not prepared to handle the sudden rush of claims or verify such a large number of identities leading to widespread fraud.
"We aren't the only state with an antiquated system. More than half of the states have our exact same system they responded timely," Tarwater said.
The Kansas Department of Labor responded to KMBC's request with this statement:
"The report proves what we have long said, the most important issue facing our department is modernizing the outdated system that caused these vulnerabilities during the pandemic," Tarwater said.
The report also pointed out that in addition to fraud, many legitimate claims were denied. The state is working now to update the system to...
The author and behavioural scientist, Gad Saad, has just published a book on what he calls “suicidal empathy”. He says that “a society dies when it cares more about exhibiting infinite tolerance a...