By Avery Schneider
Buffalo, NY – The state Labor Department is cracking down on unemployment insurance fraud. Labor Commissioner Patricia Smith appeared in Buffalo Tuesday to announce the arrests of 45 people on charges they attempted to defraud the unemployment insurance program of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Nineteen of the arrests occurred in Erie County.
Smith said most of the people who were arrested were collecting benefits while earning a salary.
"The message is we have far better tools than we've had in the past to detect fraud," Smith said. "We are aggressively using these tools so that if you're out there working and collecting unemployment, the chances are we're going to find you. We're going to catch you. And in that situation, we're going to send it over for criminal prosecution."
Smith says her office worked with local law enforcement agencies and district attorneys in making the arrests. She says it's shameful that people would steal from a fund that is designed to help families in need.