Colorado Adds ID Verification To Prevent Unemployment Fraud

DENVER (CBS4) - The Colorado Department of Labor and Environment's new ID verification system is aimed at preventing identity theft and expediting service. Fraudulent claims are a large reason why so many are delayed from getting unemployment benefits through CDLE.

"It's not enough to just have knowledge of somebody's date of birth, social [security], in fact that's how fraud is happening.  So you will actually have to prove that you have [your] phone, and just a short link via SMS, or you can answer your landline and put in a 6-digit code and then you'll upload your government ID and take a selfie," said Blake Hall, ID.me Founder & CEO.

The US Department of Labor instructed Colorado to enhance security for extended pandemic benefits. ID.me is the company contracted to verify claimants' identities.

"There's liveness technology to verify that your face is in fact real," he explained.

In some cases, video conferencing with a live person will be necessary to fix ID discrepancies.

The system is already in place for several federal agencies as well as states like Arizona and California. However, in California, workers have reported backlogs, saying it has taken them days to file.

"The thing that makes it challenging is that we have found so much fraud in the new claims flow in certain large rich states we found that 30 percent of overall claims were fraud," Hall said.

Certain states, such as California and Arizona have also put workers through verification en masse. Keep in mind, the MyUI+ system recently flagged 20 percent of claimants in Colorado for fraud.

"California just told 1.4 million people they have 10 days to verify so while we get 88 percent through in minutes that 12 percent that needs to go through video chat, they're going to experience higher wait times," Hall said.

The Federal government set at Jan. 27 as the deadline for Colorado to meet for implementation. CDLE hopes to open applications for PUA/ PEUC shortly after.

"We'll definitely meet that deadline," Hall added.

While it has simply been brutal for thousands to wait, the ID.me CEO is optimistic that once this process gets online, it will make things easier, not harder on workers.