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Arizona freezes 43K unemployment accounts over alleged fraud

Posted at 2:39 PM, Oct 13, 2020
and last updated 2020-10-13 17:39:35-04

PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Department of Economic Security says it has prevented 43,000 unemployment accounts from receiving benefits after those accounts were flagged as potentially fraudulent.

The Arizona Republic reported Monday it is the second time this year the state has frozen payments to weed out fraud.

In July, the department closed 28,000 accounts suspected of fraud. DES later said about 3,800 accounts out of the 28,000 closed were found to be legitimate and the residents were repaid.

A state Department of Economic Security official says the number of legitimate accounts in the ongoing fraud freeze is likely to be small.