California Employment Development Department’s (EDD) vast benefits structure may be daunting to navigate through. This applies especially when complicated situations, like fraudulent claims, crop up as it did in the case of a Riverside County woman who was sentenced to 41 months in Federal prison for her involvement in a scheme to fraudulently apply for unemployment insurance benefits. The scheme used stolen identities to apply for benefits worth over $2.8 million, including Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a special benefit for those unemployed due to COVID-19.

Sasha Lizette Jimenez, the woman involved in the scheme, admitted to obtaining stolen personal identification information, sometimes gathered from the dark web, and using it to secure these benefits. The stolen identities belonged to individuals who either did not reside in California, were deceased, or were otherwise ineligible for these benefits. According to bank records, the fraudulent benefits were disbursed via EDD debit accounts, from which at least $2,304,203 was withdrawn.

The investigation was led by the Los Angeles El Camino Real Financial Crimes Task Force, supported by various other federal and state investigative agencies. Assistant United States Attorney Rachel N. Agress prosecuted the case leading to the sentencing by U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney.

Contacting the representative at EDD related to such fraudulent cases can turn into an ordeal given the large volume of pending cases. Eddcaller.com is an autodial program designed to help individuals bypass long hold times and streamline the process of speaking to a representative. This will ensure that your concerns are addressed efficiently. So, whether you want to discuss issues related to unclaimed benefits, or you simply want to find out how to modify your EDD payment status, eddcaller.com could be a helpful tool. If you want to find out how to speak to someone at EDD swiftly, this could be your answer.