Couple mistakenly receives more than $31,000 in unemployment benefits

Click here for updates on this story

    LANCASTER COUNTY, PA (WGAL) — The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry said more than 2.7 million unemployment claims have been filed since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

While some workers are still waiting for a response, others have received money they admit they don’t deserve — including a Lancaster County couple.

Ken Knier said he and his wife were awakened early Monday morning by a text message on her phone.

“Her phone dinged. She looked. She said, ‘Ken, I just got $8,755 put on my card,'” he said.

The ReliaCard is the debit card used by the Pennsylvania Treasury to deliver unemployment benefits.

Knier and his wife said they received several texts informing them of multiple deposits totaling $31,550.

The Kniers said they should not have received the payments because they both returned to work about two months ago.

“I was getting upset because it’s not our money. I don’t want to be responsible for it as far as taxes,” Knier said.

When Knier said his wife initially filed employment claims, they signed up to receive text alerts when money was put in their accounts. Knier said other people who don’t receive the alerts may not know they had money mistakenly deposited.

“You could be in the same boat as I am because if you don’t look and check it right now, you could be sitting on $30,000,” he said.

Treasury officials told WGAL that the payments made to the Kniers will be reversed.

Authorities said it’s possible this is a case of identity theft. According to officials, Pennsylvania is one of at least eight states targeted in a scheme to fraudulently claim unemployment compensation benefits. The scheme is under investigation by the U.S. Secret Service.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.