Dupage Policy Journal

State Rep. Amy Grant (R-Wheaton) is warning Illinois residents to be on guard as fraud cases involving the state’s unemployment system continue to rise in the age of the COVID-19 crisis.

“It is important that all Illinoisans monitor their credit reports, request fraud alerts and review financial accounts closely as cases of fraud continue to rise,” Grant told the Dupage Policy Journal.

According to ABC News, the number of unemployment fraud cases that have come into the attorney general’s office over the last several months total in the thousands, with easily just as many also being made with the Illinois Department of Employment Security.

Illinois State Rep. Amy Grant (R-Wheaton) | https://repgrant.com/

Grant has long been among the growing number of lawmakers in Springfield calling attention to lingering problems in the system and has demanded action from Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D).  

“We are coming up on seven months since the day when, with a stroke of the pen, Gov. (J.B.) Pritzker put over a million Illinoisans out of work,” she previously told the DuPage Policy Journal. “It is unconscionable that problems with people obtaining unemployment benefits owed to them still persist. We need hearings and an audit of IDES.”

Grant has also been a constant critic of the state’s handling of the pandemic, particularly when it comes to unemployment benefits made available to struggling residents. She is now calling for a complete and independent audit of the system after countless out-of-work residents have been unable able to smoothly file for benefits over the last five months because of hiccups with the system.

In Grant’s mind, many of the problems stem from poor decisions she considers to have been by the governor.

“As Gov. Pritzker prepared to issue COVID-19-related executive orders that closed or restricted the majority of businesses in our state, he had to know that his actions would put an incredibly large number of people out of work,” she added. “He had a responsibility to make sure his Department of Employment Security was ready for the massive influx of filings that would be coming. He completely failed.”