4 Ways People Get Busted for Unemployment Fraud

Michelle Knudson
Unemployment fraud is quite common. People will often do nearly whatever it takes in order to receive money to keep paying the bills on time. Here are four ways that people get busted for unemployment fraud.

Unemployment Fraud Through Someone Else

Many times people that collect unemployment will often have a spouse or family member put their earnings under their own name. It will show up as another person making the income, but the person that collects unemployment is the one that really does the work. Some people think of as a win win situation since it increases their income and they don't have to work for it. How does the person usually get caught? Someone usually tells on them through an anonymous line to receive a big reward.

Earned Money Under The Table

People often earn money under the table that they do not report. An investigator or other people can show pictures of you getting money under the table that is not reported. Investigators will literally find out where you make extra money and show up. Investigators do this for a living so they don't care how much hours it takes for them to show that you commit unemployment fraud.

You Don't Tell Them About a New Job

You don't mention for several months that you have obtained a new job. You have sat there and collected unemployment checks for months without telling them. You will have to pay back all of that money in most cases. The unemployment office will be tempted to go after you for fraud that is a federal offense. They discover the fraud by a W2 immediately when they look at your case file.

You Don't Mention Any 1099s

A 1099 is a tax form that companies send to the IRS and other agencies to report earnings at the end of the year. It implies that you were working during that calendar year. They will call up the company and get a detailed list of how much money that you made during each month. They will notify you when it is too late that you owe them money and might risk being charged with fraud that is a federal offense.

You Hide Behind a Company That You Own

You hire someone else to manage your business while you collect unemployment in another state. Lets say one company that you owned closed in another state so you collect unemployment from there, but you continue to operate another company in a different state. You pretend that your company isn't making any money when you spend the extra amount on luxury lunches and other things while you report zero income to unemployment office. Any good accountant can show a loss in order to get away with unemployment fraud since he or she knows how to work the numbers. A good accountant often knows what things people look at tax returns and know how to make it fit to their needs.

Published by Michelle Knudson

Michelle is a freelance writer who has sold and published over 550 articles. Her writing strengths include, business, financial topics and relationships. You may contact her at michelle@michelleknudsonwrite...  View profile

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  • Das Shep2/6/2011

    My now ex collected close to a grand a month from Florida, while awaiting SSDI in another state which was awarded. She got a lump from Social Security that covered the time she got UC. I would think Florida would be smart enough to uncover this since she lied by saying she was able and available to work, even thouugh it was proven she was unable on a federal level. Who knows? Any other state would have nailed her long ago.

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