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State Shuts Down New Unemployment Claims For 2 Weeks After Cases Of Fraud Exposed

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) --  The state has shut down all new unemployment insurance claims as of Saturday night due to unemployment insurance fraud, sources tell KCAL 9.

People who are already in the process of receiving claims will not be impacted by the changes.

California's Employment Development Department has shut down all new claims for the next two weeks, while they prepare an updated identity verification system to combat fraud within the state's unemployment system.

The change is reportedly part of the governor's strike team which has been looking into fraud for the past 50 days.

A memo that went out to people who take claims over the phone says "the EDD is taking this proactive step to improve the identity verification process to address the increase in fraudulent activities."

CBSLA's David Goldstein has been exposing unemployment fraud, including claims going out of state and even out of the country without any identification provided which is required.

According to the memo after the two-week shutdown, the system will go back online on September 30 with a soft launch of a new identity verification process called ID.me, which is expected to cut down on fraud.

EDD officials did not immediately respond to CBSLA's request for comment on Saturday night.

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