Over 30 Republican congressmen have sent a letter to the Department of Labor's Office of the Inspector General requesting information into COVID-19 related unemployment fraud that could be in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
"The Department of Labor must be thoroughly audited," Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., wrote in a statement. "We must determine the total amount of money that has been fraudulently distributed throughout the last two years.
"I am deeply concerned that American taxpayer dollars have even gone to overseas foreign nationals posing as American citizens. It is past time that the Department of Labor determine the total amount of taxpayer dollars that have been wasted."
Lamborn and Rep. Michelle Steel called on acting Inspector General Larry Turner to conduct an audit to determine the level of fraud which could be as high as $400 billion in fraudulent claims.
"I am grateful for the support of my colleague Rep. Steel on this crucial issue and look forward to the department's prompt reply," Lamborn added.
Experts believe the filing of fraudulent claims could be the work of foreign actors. The criminals are able to access the money by stealing an individual's personal information or by purchasing it on the dark web.
Haywood Talcove, the CEO of LexisNexis Risk Solution, told Fox Business, some groups even have an army of Internet thieves submitting fraudulent claims. While some states are looking into individuals who are double-dipping in the system, they cannot always catch international criminals.
"The widespread fraud in pandemic unemployment assistance is a gross abuse of taxpayer dollars, and we still do not know the full amount that has been paid out to fraudsters and criminals," Rep. Steel added in the statement. "We should all be on the side of good governance and protection of taxpayer money.
"We need a full audit to ensure something like this never happens again."
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