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Fraudsters may have plundered as much as half of the unemployment benefits that the US pumped out in a hurry during the pandemic.

Blake Hall, CEO of ID.me, a fraud prevention service, told Axios that the US has lost more than $400 billion to crooked claims.

The US may have been robbed of as much as half of all money given out through unemployment benefits during the pandemic, Hall told the outlet.

Haywood Talcove, the CEO of LexisNexis Risk Solutions, estimated that most of the stolen money, at least 70 percent, probably ended up outside the US, according to Axios.

Much of the pilfered funds likely went to criminal syndicates in China, Nigeria, Russia and elsewhere, he said, according to the outlet.

“These groups are definitely backed by the state,” Talcove told Axios.

A lot of the money was also likely stolen by US street gangs, who have been taking a greater share of the stolen funds in recent months, Axios reported.

The US may have been robbed of as much as half of all money given out through unemployment benefits during the pandemic, according to one executive.Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Criminals were likely able to defraud the government by stealing personal information and using it to impersonate would-be unemployment claimants, Axios reported.

Other groups, the report said, may have tricked legitimate claimants into handing over their personal information.

Low-level criminals, or so-called mules, would then be given debit cards and asked to withdraw money from ATMs, the report said. That money could then be transferred abroad, often via untraceable cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.

Criminals were likely able to defraud the government by stealing personal information and using it to impersonate would-be unemployment claimants.AFP via Getty Images

It’s long been assumed by many politicians and government watchdogs that criminals would make off with at least some of the emergency pandemic relief funds.

State unemployment systems were ill-prepared for the demands of the pandemic. It was widely assumed that some of the hundreds of billions doled out would slip through the cracks, but many politicians said it was critical to get the money out as quickly as possible.

Now, the latest estimates reveal the scope of the fraud that took place over the past year.

Much of the pilfered funds likely went to criminal syndicates in China, Nigeria, Russia and elsewhere.Alamy Stock Photo

China’s crackdown on cryptocurrencies is heating up with a series of arrests that suggest digital currency users can be traced.

More than 1,100 people who allegedly used cryptocurrencies to launder profits from frauds were arrested Wednesday, the country’s Ministry of Public Security said in a statement. 

The busts involved 170 criminal groups who authorities say hired “coin farmers” to open crypto accounts after bank accounts they used for their alleged scams had been seized.

“The high illegal income attracts a large number of people to participate, causing serious social harm,” the ministry said of the alleged plots.

The arrests may cast further doubt on the supposed un-traceability of cryptocurrencies. On Tuesday, the price of bitcoin fell almost 12 percent after it was revealed that US authorities were able to reclaim most of a bitcoin ransom that Colonial Pipeline paid to hacker group DarkSide in May. 

“Criminals have been using bitcoin because of the supposed inability of governments to get at it,” Anthony Denier, CEO of trading platform Webull, told the Post on Tuesday. “If governments can claw it back, that hurts its appeal.” 

Wednesday’s arrests are part of a broader Chinese crackdown on crypto. They come less than a month after the government called for greater regulation of digital currencies.

A committee presided over by a member of China’s Politburo wrote in May that it is necessary to “crack down on bitcoin mining and trading behavior, and resolutely prevent the transmission of individual risks to the social field.” 

Worries about bitcoin’s traceability and the looming threat of government regulations have sent the cryptocurrency plummeting from its peak of more than $63,000 in April. Bitcoin was trading at about $37,600 Thursday morning. 

Additional reporting by Will Feuer

The number of Americans seeking new unemployment benefits fell again last week to a fresh pandemic low, the feds said Thursday.

Initial worker filings for jobless claims, seen as a proxy for layoffs, reached 376,000 last week, down from 385,000 reported the prior week, according to data released Thursday by the Labor Department.

It’s the sixth consecutive week of steady declines, but initial claims still remain substantially higher than pre-pandemic levels. The country was averaging just over 200,000 new claims per week in 2019.

The downward trend of new claims is an indication of a labor market that appears to be healing, albeit slower than some economists expected earlier this year.

The US added 559,000 jobs last month, fewer than the 671,000 expected by economists, with some hailing the figure as a sign of progress and others saying US hiring continues to disappoint.

As of mid-May, more than 15.4 million Americans remained on some form of government assistance through all unemployment programs.

That data comes even as US job openings soared to a new record 9.3 million in April, according to data released this week from the Labor Department.

Millions of those Americans on unemployment benefits could also soon see their benefits slashed, as at least 25 states are now looking to lure workers back into the labor market by withdrawing from the federal program that provides an extra $300 in additional unemployment benefits every week.

As of mid-May, more than 15.4 million Americans remained on some form of government assistance through all unemployment programs. REUTERS

President Joe Biden confirmed last week that he would let the federal unemployment benefits program expire after Labor Day, but some states will pull out of it as soon as this week.

Some companies, politicians and economists have said the extra benefits add up to more than what businesses can afford to pay people, particularly for entry level jobs.

Companies have reported struggles to recruit new workers amid the reopening, with many citing the pandemic-boosted federal unemployment benefits as a cause. Other reasons for the labor crunch include fear of getting COVID-19 and school closures keeping parents at home, economists say.

Companies have reported struggles to recruit new workers amid the reopening, with many citing the pandemic-boosted federal unemployment benefits as a cause.

Some economists have warned that the labor shortage could hold back the US economic recovery, while others have urged patience as businesses grapple with temporary issues in the hiring pool.

The White House has defended the extra benefits, saying that businesses should pay people more.

But many economists are growing increasingly worried about wage inflation driving prices up. Companies have already begun raising prices, blaming higher labor and supply costs.

Chipotle, for example, has raised its menu prices by up to 4 percent to cover the costs of higher wages for employees. Executives from other major companies, including General Mills, Unilever and JM Smucker, have also warned recently about rising costs and inflationary pressures.

The billionaire space race is heating up.

Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson is reportedly weighing how he can beat Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to space next month.

Bezos, who has a net worth of about $191 billion, announced on Monday that he and his younger brother will be among the passengers on Blue Origin’s first crewed flight to the edge of space on July 20.

On Tuesday, a source told the blog Parabolic Arc that Virgin Galactic wants to send Branson, who has a net worth of about $6.9 billion, up on a test flight of its VSS Unity SpaceShipTwo rocket plane over the July 4 weekend.

Both men are jockeying to be the first tycoons to make it to space. SpaceX founder Elon Musk hasn’t yet announced any intent to fly to space this summer.

Virgin Galactic’s purported plans come over a month after Blue Origin set July 20 as the date for its flight.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is heading into space on July 20. EPA

A Virgin Galactic spokesman told the blog: “We expect to complete the final test flights this summer through to early fall. At this time, we have not determined the date of our next flight.”

A spokesperson told Insider that Branson’s flight is “expected in the summer months.”

A separate test flight with four “mission specialists,” who are employees playing the role of future passengers, is also expected this summer, the spokesperson told Insider.

The Parabolic Arc report noted that Virgin Galactic would need additional regulatory approval from the Federal Aviation Administration before Branson can fly as the company’s first “spaceflight participant.”

Virgin Galactic still needs approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to participate in the space voyage. Virgin Galactic

But space regulation experts told Insider that the plan seems achievable in the amount of time available.

“To me, it looks absolutely very doable,” said George Nield, a former associate administrator of the FAA, where he led its Office of Commercial Space Transportation. Nield noted that he is not privy to communications between Virgin Galactic and the FAA, which licenses commercial rocket launches.

An interior view of a Virgin Galactic SpaceshipVirgin Galactic

Nield said it would likely be simple and easy for the company to get the necessary approval to allow Branson to fly as a participant, so long as data from its last successful flight doesn’t raise any eyebrows.

And he added that it’s possible Virgin Galactic just gives Branson a new role as a crew member rather than a participant, bypassing the regulatory scrutiny of a passenger flight.

“In my opinion, there is nothing preventing Richard Branson from also flying as a member of the flight crew,” Nield said. “He is an employee of the company, and they can assign him whatever duties they want to. That’s not something the FAA gets involved in. That’s up to the company.”