Report: $45 billion in US pandemic unemployment claims flagged as potentially fraudulent

A new government report released Monday verified at least $4.3 billion in fraudulent unemployment claims during the COVID-19 pandemic and said the total could be 10 times that or more.

Responding to a request from Republican members of Congress, U.S. Government Accountability Office staff pored over federal and state workforce agency findings, inspector general reports and Labor Department estimates for the period from March 2020, when the pandemic began, to March 2022.