Lines grow at OESC as people trying to file demand answers

This morning hundreds gathered in front of the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission demanding answers.

They’ve all been waiting for unemployment benefits, some have been waiting for months:OESC Update: Weekly claims are delayed

One of the big problems we heard from those in line is fraudulent claims.

"How could someone get my personal information especially the letter came from the unemployment office it wasn’t like a fraudulent letter. It may be be going through and who ever it was is getting unemployment that’s cutting into my unemployment," said Azi Green, in line at OESC.

"The data breaches from Experian in 2017 and the financial institutions that happened, people’s information was stolen there and we’ve had people that have bought and sold people’s personal information and they were waiting for an incident like this to manipulate the system, said OESC Interim Executive Director, Shelley Zumwalt. "We are working on fraud every single day it’s one of our two top priorities, which is getting people benefits and stopping fraud and working with the AG's office OSBI and FBI. Those investigations and routing out what we need to to get those funds recovered if there is fraudulent activity."

Many in line today however feel more should be done.

"It’s a lot happening and there’s so many people the unemployment numbers are so high I would just think that they would be more prepared that our system here would have been a little more prepared," said Green.

"There’s 60,000 of us still waiting on unemployment and they’re only seeing 200 people a day if you want to do the math on that it’s gonna take a while to get everybody. Most of us have been waiting since like April so it’s like come on it’s kind of hard to pay your bills on zero dollars," said Jason Hart,in line at OESC.

Another issue people have been having is with the website, error messages and just difficultly using it.

"It’s like string into the void there no other way to put it, it’s bleak and they don’t seem to really care," said Hart.

"We are looking at different avenues we can take to make sure we are addressing the need as it comes to our building the need on the phones the need holistically,"said Zumwalt.

Today a new website has been rolled out that aims to alleviate some of those issues:OESC creates new platform for fraudulent claims

According to OESC the new website, now at OESC.OK.GOV, will have a modern look and feel, compared to the old site.

The new site will be easier to navigate, allowing job seekers, employers, unemployment claimants, and veterans to find the resources, labor market information, and programs available.