Fact Check: Unemployment Scam Warrants Were NOT Served to 12,000 In Greensboro, NC

Fact Check

  • by: Lead Stories Staff
Fact Check: Unemployment Scam Warrants Were NOT Served to 12,000 In Greensboro, NC Not Served

Were 12,000 warrants served to people in Greensboro, NC involved in an unemployment scam? No, that's not true: There is no record of an unemployment scam investigation that generated 12,000 warrants, according to local officials contacted by Lead Stories.

The claim appeared in a Facebook meme (archived here) where it was published on August 27, 2020. It read:

Greensboro n.c just served 12,000 Warrants for Unemployment Scam

This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:

Facebook screenshot

(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Thu Aug 27 15:24:29 2020 UTC)

In a Facebook messenger chat on August 26, the Facebook user who posted the claim said she saw it elsewhere on Facebook, but was unable to provide Lead Stories with the link.

A North Carolina TV station reported The North Carolina Division of Employment Security only flagged around 870 suspected cases of identity theft/misrepresentation through the end of July, a far cry from 12,000.

When it comes to criminal proceedings, magistrates are responsible for issuing warrants. A spokesperson for Guilford County's criminal magistrate's office said, "I have no knowledge of that, I don't believe that's true," when asked about the claim that 12,000 warrants were issued in a crackdown on an unemployment scam in a phone interview.

"I believe that is a false claim," said Ron Glenn, the public information officer for the Greensboro Police Department, in a phone interview.

The editor of the local Greensboro newspaper said there has been no story about a mass of warrants nor a major unemployment fraud case. "Neither our police reporter nor city reporter have heard anything like this," said Cindy Loman, an editor for the Greensboro News & Record, in an email.

From March 1 to July 1, The North Carolina Division of Employment Security did flag "thousands of suspicious claims," according to WNCN, but there is still no evidence of 12,000 warrants being issued.

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