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Other states experienced much larger losses to fraud, like California at $18.7 billion. Arizona lost $4.4 billion and Virginia lost $1.6 billion to fraud, and both have similar-sized populations to Washington state.

According to department data, it caught the fraud within the first two weeks and decided to pause benefit payments, which prevented payment on more than 100,000 fraudulent claims. Its finance team then collected and analyzed fraud data and determined that 95% of fraudulent payments went to 75 banks. From there, the department specified that it contacted each bank and attempted to recover funds. This effort included sharing fraud data with the banks and reaching resolutions on the amounts available to return.

“We're thankful for our partnership with the Attorney General," said Commissioner Cami Feek, "It’s wonderful to see our collaboration and hard work paying off. Fraud recovery has been a long road; however, our collective efforts have made us a leader in fraud recovery nationally and a resource for advice and guidance for other states.”

Searching for accounts with red flags
The Attorney General’s Office used the department’s data and subpoenaed more than 35 banks across the country to identify accounts with balances of $1,000 or more that bore red flags or indicators of fraud.

Red flags included:
    Accounts that received unemployment benefit payments from multiple states;
    Accounts that received deposits of unemployment benefits to multiple people; or
    A mismatch between the personal information of the account holder and the person who supposedly applied for the benefits deposited in the account.

Ferguson filed cases to recover stolen funds remaining in accounts at 26 different financial institutions. In part because of these forfeiture litigation efforts and the assistance provided to the department, Washington was more successful than other states in mitigating, and securing recoveries of, unemployment fraud losses — helping to preserve funds for the benefit of unemployed workers.

The funds recovered by the Attorney General’s forfeiture initiative go back into the state unemployment trust fund and to the federal treasury.

Special Assistant Attorney General Jeff Sprung in the Complex Litigation Division is leading this effort, along with Assistant Attorneys General Martha Rodriguez Lopez, Spencer Coates, Kendall Scott Cowles, Erica Franklin, John Nelson, Lia Pernell and Nick Quijas, paralegals Sara Cearley and Kellie Tappan, legal assistant Victoria Johnson and investigator Greg Coleman.

https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/ag-ferguson-s-innovative-unemployment-fraud-recovery-initiative-nets-42-million

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Employment Security Department data
https://esd.wa.gov/esdwa/Default/ESDWAGOV/newsroom/2023-09-14_ui-fraud-overview.pdf