questions & answers

Question: I recently found out that my ex-husband (we were married at the time) was continuing to collect my unemployment benefits under my name for 5 months after I started a new job! DES is now trying to sue me for collecting unemployment! Is there any way to prove that HE was the one collecting my unemployment and NOT me (he was collecting it via the automated weekly claim over the phone)?! How can I prosecute or go after him for the money owed and not me!?

Answer: I will start this answer with the definition of Fraud in Arizona.

ARS 13-2311. Fraudulent schemes and practices; willful concealment; classification

A. Notwithstanding any provision of the law to the contrary, in any matter related to the business conducted by any department or agency of this state or any political subdivision thereof, any person who, pursuant to a scheme or artifice to defraud or deceive, knowingly falsifies, conceals or covers up a material fact by any trick, scheme or device or makes or uses any false writing or document knowing such writing or document contains any false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or entry is guilty of a class 5 felony.

Now, proving that your Ex-husband committed this act is the hard part.

The following link has a DES fraud hotline and also an online form you can fill out to report the fraud.
https://www.azdes.gov/fraud/