It’s happened again. The EDD seized more than $4,000 from a North Bay couple’s tax refund… without saying why.
Turns out a scammer had used the husband’s identity to file a phony unemployment claim during the pandemic. Three years later, the EDD tried to claw back that money — but took it from the ID theft victim. It’s not the first time EDD seized money from a blameless citizen.
It’s surprising this is still going on. You may recall the EDD was so swamped with unemployment claims during the pandemic, it loosened the rules — and wound up paying an estimated $20 billion dollars to fraudsters. Many were using stolen identities to file phony claims. Now identity victims say EDD is making them pay back money it gave to the crooks.
“It feels like it was stolen from us. The state literally stole money from us,” said Issac Biera.
MORE: EDD drops Bank of America as unemployment payment contractor
Issac and Ellen Biera of American Canyon were totally bewildered. Out of nowhere, they found out the state Employment Development Department had seized their tax refunds — more than $4,000.