WHY DOES UNEMPLOYMENT WIN REQUIRE ID VERIFICATION?

The amount of fraud during the pandemic exposed the weaknesses of the unemployment system. New York has responded to over 724,000 identity-theft-related unemployment fraud cases in 2021. That doesn’t include the identity theft, fraud, and corruption by some of the Department of Labor’s staff. Most identity thieves are weeded out by using legitimate identity protection services.

We require a suitable third-party service to vet our claimants to avoid representing identity thieves posing as legitimate claimants. This is to prevent our representation from adding to any confusion or damage caused by an identity thief.

Quality services are available starting at less than $50. Given the harms caused by fake claimants, it is a small price to pay for the added security such vetting provides.

(ID.me vetting is theoretically for the government agency, and is non-responsive and extremely slow to act or respond, and is therefore unsuitable for this purpose)