New Jersey Department of Labor Uncovers
Massive Fraud Operation through Use of Veris Services

Veris Social Security Number Validation Services provided the missing piece of the puzzle that helped the New Jersey Department of Labor uncover a long-standing fraud scheme: illegal aliens unlawfully collecting state unemployment checks for years.

An article by Robert Rudolph in the March 10, 1994 edition of the Newark, New Jersey Star-Ledger newspaper entitled "'Hot dog man' arrested in scheme diverting jobless benefits to aliens," describes the events. The article reports that those accused apparently steered aliens to "insiders" in the N.J. Labor Department offices. These employees then helped arrange for unemployment checks to be issued in return for thousands of dollars a week in cash payoffs.

An audit of social security number records in the state's Department of Labor files using Veris services turned up "inconsistencies" in the form of invalid SSNs. Further investigation by federal authorities determined that the use of bogus social security numbers allowed the unemployment claims to be processed. Some of the illegal aliens--who cannot work legally and are not entitled to unemployment benefits--were receiving over $550 per week.

David Krasula of the U.S. Deparment of Labor is quoted in the Star-Ledger article as saying that "the minimum loss (in this case) is well into the six figues and probably substantially beyond that."

The Star-Ledger article may be found in its entirety through the following web site: http://nj.com/starledger