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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
July 30, 2020     Shelton Mason County Journal
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July 30, 2020
 
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Page Av4 Shelton-Mason County Journal Thursday, July 30, 2020 i M l l THESE TIMES Local man has identity issues omeone typing on a keyboard S somewhere in this wide, won- derful world made a costly error this spring while entering the identifying and purloined in-, formation belonging to one Bob Wilkerson, Mason County resident. Wilkerson, who lives south of Shelton near Fawn Lake, would soon learn he had become a bit player in a far-flung scam. It was a can that skimmed millions of dollars earmarked for newly unemployed Wash- ington residents who were of joblessness caused by COVID-19. It was such a monumental amount of fraud that the state agency in charge of those benefits has yet — more than two months later — to release a full ac- count of the damage done. In fact, the agency still is trying to catch up with the many legitimate job— less claims that have yet to be pro— cessed. The fraudsters took advantage of the state Employment Security Department being overwhelmed by, and being unable to thoroughly. check, the hundreds of thousands of jobless claims that flooded its com- puters in early spring. Washington lost 500,000 jobs in April, according to the agency. That cache of money for the unemployed had become especially enticing because of the extra $600 per week added by the federal government to the weekly checks. According to Agari, a website that reports on email security mat- ters, Washington was one of several states, including Florida, Massa- chusetts and Wyoming, targeted by the con squad. The US Secret Service released abulletin May 14, calling it a “well-organized Nigerian fraud ring.” “The primary state targeted so far is Washington,” according to the Secret Service bulletin, which added that “individuals residing out of state are receiving multiple de— posits from the state of Washington unemployment benefits program, all in different individual’s names with no connection to the account holder.” 1 Washington likely contributed to being the primary target because it hurried to get money into the hands of the newly jobless. Our state, es- sentially, was the first target to poke its head over the battle trench. Wilkerson’s information —- in- sultinanammntg iionmnl By KIRK dealing with the first crush ERICSON eluding name, birth date and Social Security number and the infor- mation of millions of others who had their identities stolen in earlier security breaches was being put into play across multiple jurisdic- tions. That someone operating from who—knows-where cre- ated a claim in Wilkerson’s name for jobless benefits this spring. On May 9, Wilkerson received a letter from the state employment agency telling him a prob- lem existed with a jobless claim that been opened in his name. Wilkerson could be certain the claim was thor- oughly bogus because he was inten- tionally without employment at the time — he had retired in 2018 after 33 years at The Boeing 00., where he worked as a manufacturing en- gineer. ‘ After he registered the bogus claim on the agency’s website, he received another letter two days , later stating that the person open- ing the claim had requested direct deposit, but failed to get the bank account information correct. “It was denied because there was ' something wrong with the routing information for the automatic de- posit,” he said. Did somebody forget to double- check their work? Thus began several weeks of work and worry to disentangle his name from the grip of a government bureaucracy, a bureaucracy where you can’t just show up in an office space, make a loud proclamation that you are who you say you are and expect the matter to end. So Wilkerson got active. . “I called the sheriff’s department and filed an incident report,” he said. “I contacted the three main credit bureaus to put a freeze on my accounts, and for my wife’s. I also filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.” He sent multiple emails, made multiple calls and left multiple voice mails on agency phones. He froze their credit reports, set up alert notifications for himself and his wife, and contacted one of his. state representatives and the Gov- ernor’s Office. ' “One day I made 30 calls, the next day I made 150. Cellphone has redial so it made it easy,” he said. Wilkerson estimated he spent 12 see TIIl/IES, page A—5 EDITORIAL Do the right thing —-+ vote ith coronavirus affecting every component of our lives, it’s easy to lose track of all of our important responsibilities. They’ve all ' taken a-backseat to staying safe, wear- ing our masks and practicing social distancing. Well, here’s one more duty we hope you remember to check off your list this week — voting in the Aug. 4 primary election. ' You probably received your ballot a couple weeks ago. It might still be sit- ting on your countertop or dining room table. Maybe you tossed it in a to-do pile. It could still be there. ‘ Consider this a friendly reminder — fill it out, drop it in the mail or a county drop box, and rest easy knowing that you did your part in our demo- cratic society. We know all of your excuses; it takes too much work to research the candi- dates; you don’t have time; you don’t have a stamp; or you’ll just vote in the general election where it matters more. We’re not buying them. Sure, the ballot has a lot to digest. Depending on where you live, you might have local fire district levy proposals, a Board of County Commissioner race and a mix of state and federal offices on your ballot. It’s a lot of names, many of which you may not know. But it’s really easy to learn about your federal, state and local candidates — go to the Secretary of State’s website at sos.wa.gov or the county’s elections website at www.masOncountyelections. us. If you don’t have access to the inter- net, reach out to the county auditor’s elections office. It can be reached at 360-427-9670, ext. 470. All it takes is a moment to do a bit of research, and you’ll have done your part to ensure that your tax dollars are I spent the way you want. It also gives you a chance to vote fer candidates whose values you agree with —— the top two candidates in a contested race move on to the Nov. 3 general election. If only one ortwo candidates are on the ballot for a position, both will move on to the next ballot. But just because you’ll have a fi- nal say in November doesn’t mean you should ignore the ballot you have buried under your bills and mortgage statements. The kicker is this '— you don’t even have to find a stamp. Return envelopes are prepaid, so just take it to your mailbox or drop it off at one of six 24- hour drop boxes. Call the auditor’s of— fice for a location near you. We know you have plenty to keep' you busy right now —, you might be staying home with your children or grandchildren and trying to work full time. You might have been laid off, or have ailments that take up your time and energy. But voting shouldn’t take a back seat take a few minutes and do the right thing. N o matter who you vote for, just vote. IT‘S BEST WHEN THOSE BEING TAXED MAKE THE RULES. All regular editorial, advertising _ and legal deadlines are 5 pm. the Monday prior to publication. Front office: D'ave Pierik, office administrator The Shelton-Mason County Jour- Publisher: Tom Mullen nal is a member of the wash— ington Newspaper Publishers USPS 492-800 POST MASTER: send address changes to Shelton-Mason Advertising: County Journal, 90. Box 430, Shanon. WA 93534, Association. John Lester, general manager Delivery: ' Theresa Murray, ad representative Jon Garza To submit a letter to the editor, SUBSCRIPTION RATES: David Olson email adam@masoncounty.com. Published weekly by the Shelton-Mason County Journal at 227 W. Cota St, Shelton, Washington. Mailing address: PO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584 Telephone: 360-426-4412 Website: www.masoncounty.com Periodicals postage paid in Shelton, Washington. Newsroom: Niel Challstrom Adam Rudnick, editor in chief Gordon Weeks, reporter Justin Johnson, sports/outdoors editor lsabella Breda, reporter Kirk Ericson, columnist/ proofreader Lloyd Mullen, creative director $62 per year ($43 for six months) for Mason County addreSSes and $75 per year ($55 for six months) outside of Mason County. Composing room: William Adams, advertising and technical support Owned and published by SheltonoMason County Journal, lnc.