New Mexico business enterprise operator struggles to fight unemployment fraud

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A regional organization proprietor reported he alerted the point out when anyone fraudulently filed for unemployment underneath his identify. Nevertheless, he was getting a challenging time obtaining any individual to hear to him. Kevin Lawton owns Futons & Frames on Menaul near Carlisle. “We opened in 1991,” he stated. “So, we’ve been listed here a long time.”

Lawton received a letter from the New Mexico Division of Workforce Answers previously this month and figured an staff, he experienced to permit go in March when the pandemic hit, experienced submitted for unemployment. Then, he looked closer and noticed that the identify on the assert was his own. “I’m not an staff. I’m so effortless to trace,” Lawton explained.

The predicament went from funny to discouraging, Lawton reported. He figured he could obvious it all up with a quick cellphone contact. “That’s not what happens,” he reported, shaking his head.

When Lawton did get anyone on the cellular phone, they requested him for his information and facts to validate his id. “And she goes, ‘Oh, that’s the overall opposite of what we have on file with Kevin Lawton.’ I go, ‘Stop. That’s me!’”

In the meantime, the letters kept coming. “I acquire one more genuinely slim letter. So, now I’m positive it is taken treatment of,” Lawton stated. “And, once more, it was not.”

A letter he acquired very last Friday confirmed that Kevin Lawton, or at the very least the individual pretending to be him, is eligible for benefits. “You seem at this, just in shock heading, it is me. I’m not in determined need to have of revenue. I’m doing work seven days a 7 days,” he said.

Workforce Solutions Secretary Bill McCamley explained that unemployment fraud is quite frequent throughout the COVID-19 crisis. “I won’t lie to you. It’s an challenge, and it truly will make me indignant that these thieves are out there.”

McCamley reported that given that the pandemic started out, New Mexico has recovered extra than $17 million that was supplied to criminals. For instance, between May well and June, the state found a lot more than 480 folks illegally filed for unemployment in jail.

“But the force on our agency is to get dollars out the door to help folks in the course of these genuinely difficult occasions. There’s also pressure to quit this theft. So, we have to kind of balance those people items going ahead,” McCamley mentioned.

KRQE News 13 questioned the point out if any one was on the lookout into Lawton’s circumstance. Then, about an hour before this story aired, Lawton termed with an update. He stated he was notified the account is now frozen and staying investigated.

Workforce Remedies said it has about 6,500 accounts locked down as of Thursday so that they can be vetted additional. Everyone who requires to report a fraudulent declare can email [email protected] or contact the fraud line at 505243-7283.