ODJFS Addressing Unemployment Account Delays Caused by Scammers, But Claimants Continue to Worry

After a long stretch where online service slowed or was cut off completely due to scammers targeting unemployment accounts — with three-hour hold times and nonexistent payouts as a reward — the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services this week gave an update to ongoing issues.

Claimants across the state took to social media to air grievances over the department, believing that “hackers” were behind the frustrating lack of service, blocked account access and months of zero communication from ODJFS heads.

“We were able to identify the issue at the center of the most recent increase in fraudulent attempts and made system changes to address it,” Bill Teets, an ODJFS spokesperson wrote Scene in an email Monday.

Although Teets refused to give more details as to what the fraud consisted of, he said “it addressed the specific way in which the perpetrators were attempting to utilize fake credentials.”

“Call volumes and wait times remain high,” Teets added, “as we continue helping individuals impacted by these fraud attempts regain control of their accounts.”

Teets told Scene that he’s unsure exactly how many accounts were impacted, and for how long. He said he’ll have more accurate information to release by the end of July.

Meanwhile, claimants and their relatives are stressed about overdue payments and what they perceive as the department’s total gaffe in crisis management.

This is “just the tip of the iceberg,” claimant Jon Rudder told Scene. “I’ve been trying to resolve an unemployment claim from February, and I’ve been on hold for over five hours. And that’s just from today!”

Mark Shugarman told Scene that his daughter’s company declared bankruptcy and shuttered in May. She left without any severance pay.

“She applied for unemployment and was informed that her unemployment account had been hacked,” he said. “So she is now about two months into this…no unemployment payments, and no word as to when this would be resolved. Fortunately, she has now been offered another job, but it does not start for another three weeks.”

Shugarman and family are banking on ODJFS’s next update, knowing that true governmental transparency would at least soften the financial blow.

“I feel like if people in [my daughter’s] situation could at least be given an expected resolution date,” he said, “that would be helpful.”

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