Wisconsin DWD Participating in NASWA’s Integrity Data Hub to Detect and Prevent Fraud

MADISON – Building on its multifaceted, modernized approach to detect and prevent fraud, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) is now participating in the National Association of State Workforce Agencies’ Integrity Data Hub, which provides states with cross-matching verification options for identifying potential unemployment insurance (UI) fraud and improper payments.

Data from the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) shows that the integrity data hub has assisted with the prevention of $2.4 billion in improper payments in the states and territories where it is utilized through June 2022.

“Combating UI fraud is a top priority,” DWD Secretary-designee Amy Pechacek said. “These additional tools available through NASWA’s Integrity Data Hub will give our UI staff more options in the fight against fraud, helping to protect the integrity of the UI program and ensuring that benefits remain available to individuals who are out of work through no fault of their own.”

The additional fraud identification tools available through the data hub include:

• The Suspicious Actor Repository (SAR), which allows states to compare UI claims against a list of suspicious claims from other states;
• A database of suspicious email domains;
• A database of foreign IP addresses;
• Data analysis tools that allow states to compare claims to national data and conduct cross-state validation checks;
• A multistate database of UI claims data;
• A centralized identity verification service;
• The Fraud Alert System, which allows states to share information about new fraud schemes; and,
• Bank account verification, which enables states to validate bank account ownership and status.

These modernized tools add to DWD’s existing fraud prevention and detection technology, which includes the wage records cross-match, state and national new hire cross-matches, work search audits, interstate cross-match, deceased citizen cross-match, and many others.

Wisconsin’s participation in NASWA’s Integrity Data Hub is the first completed project stemming from the state’s work with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Tiger Teams. Wisconsin was one of the first states to proactively apply for technical assistance through the Tiger Team to help it identify and fund additional process improvements that will speed benefit delivery, address equity, and fight fraud.

In addition to the Identity Data Hub, the U.S. Department of Labor has agreed to fund expanded access to claims, automation of adjudication case management and additional identity proofing. Progress on additional Tiger Teams projects will be shared in the weeks and months ahead.

More information on the Integrity Data Hub can be found on NASWA’s website.

More information on DWD’s fraud detection and prevention efforts can be found in the most recent UI Fraud Report.

The ARPA – UI Tiger TEAMs Grant is being supported, in whole or in part, by federal award number UI-38237-22-55-A-55 awarded to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.