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To: FJB who wrote (84784)	2/6/2021 9:25:47 AM
From: FJB	1 Recommendation Recommended By TimF Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 85487

I Fought the Dark Web and the Dark Web Won https://amgreatness.com/2021/02/05/i-fought-the-dark-web-and-the-dark-web-won/ American Greatness John F. Wasik Your “application for unemployment benefits has been approved,” stated the letter from the Illinois unemployment bureau a few weeks back. That was perplexing, since I never applied and wasn’t unemployed. So I immediately told my (part-time) employer and the state unemployment agency. Turns out somebody had stolen my personal information—again. [Insert grimace emoji here.] I wasn’t alone. Fraudulent jobless claims are a rampant scam across the country that accelerated during the COVID crisis as jobless benefits increased. More than a third of a million people in my state alone were also victims of the scam, including several people I knew. Although national tallies are still underway, the unemployment fraud is massive: California estimates more than $11 billion was stolen. All told, tens of millions of people could’ve been scammed in this way. Since this was the third time I’d been a victim of identity theft and fraud, I was steamed and wanted to know how thieves kept getting my information and conducted their grifting. If I knew where they got my information, maybe I could change some of my online behavior or take better precautions. I spent a lot of time on the phone giving my state unemployment agency my details. They were so swamped, it took them weeks to get back to me after I left a voicemail reporting the fraud. I realized I would have to take matters into my own hands. This led to a month-long odyssey that included interviews with security experts and law enforcement officials and some frightening insights about the modern thieves market called the dark web. It was also a dispiriting trek as I was reminded how helpless we can be in the face of global technology that makes life easier for both the law-abiding and the criminal. CONT...