Governor Andy Beshear signed an executive order Monday creating the Kentucky Unemployment Insurance Fraud Detection and Prevention Task Force.
Beshear says the group will coordinate between state and federal entities to detect, investigate, prosecute and prevent unemployment insurance fraud across the Commonwealth.
Beshear adds the task force includes many state officials.
In an ongoing effort to address the high volume of fraud in claims across the state, the Office of Unemployment Insurance (OUI) has added a new welcome screen to the claimant website with a more secure login.
OUI has also updated the fraud form to report identity theft on the site, entered into a new partnership with ID.me and implemented other secure features, and adopted new measures for out-of-state Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. The new measures will put a hold on those claims until identification can be verified.
OUI announced Friday that it was stopping all claimants from making changes to the bank account information on file with the agency.
OUI will soon require new and existing claimants to create more complex PIN numbers. Also, all-new UI claimants will only be paid by paper check effective immediately.
