VOA慢速英语2021 犯罪分子窃取了加州数十亿美元的失业救济金

Officials in California say criminals stole over $11 billion in unemployment benefits last year. But that amount could grow far larger as billions more in payments are investigated.

加州官员表示，犯罪分子去年窃取了超过110亿美元的失业救济金。随着对数十亿笔补贴展开调查，这一数字可能将会大大增加。

California Labor¹ Secretary Julie Su told reporters recently that the state paid about $114 billion in unemployment claims in 2020. Of that amount, about 10 percent — or $11.4 billion — was confirmed to have been fraud.

加州劳工部长朱莉·苏最近对记者表示，该州在2020年支付了大约1140亿美元的失业救济金。其中大约10%，也就是114亿美元被证实是欺诈。

Fraud is the crime of using dishonest methods, such as using a false identity, to take something valuable. Su said nearly $20 billion more — another 17 percent — is considered suspicious. A large part of that money could also have been fraud.

欺诈是利用虚假身份之类的不诚实手段获取有价值的东西的一种犯罪行为。朱莉·苏表示，另外还有17%，即近200亿美元被认为存在可疑。这些资金的很大一部分也可能是欺诈。

Su said California did not have the correct "security measures in place to prevent this level of fraud, and criminals took advantage of the situation."

朱莉·苏表示，加州并没有正确的安全措施来防范这种程度的欺诈，而犯罪分子利用了这种局面。

Nearly all of the fraudulent claims were made through the federally supported Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program. The program, approved by Congress, provides unemployment benefits to people who are usually not able to receive them, such as independent contractors².

几乎所有的欺诈性申请都是通过联邦政府支持的大流行失业援助计划提出的。国会批准的这项计划向通常无法领取失业救济金的人士提供失业救济金，例如独立承包人。

But, officials say, the program's wide eligibility³ requirements make it an easy target of criminals, including individuals from Nigeria and Russia.

但是官员们表示，该计划宽泛的资格要求使其很容易成为犯罪分子的目标，其中包括来自尼日利亚和俄罗斯的个人。

Su admitted that the state was unprepared for such criminal activity. She also blamed the Trump⁴ administration for failing to give the state the support needed to stop experienced fraud groups. She said a series of measures put in place last year had blocked billions of dollars in possible fraud plans.

朱莉·苏承认该州没有对这种犯罪行为做好准备。她还指责川普政府未能向州政府提供阻止有经验的诈骗集团所需的支持。她说，去年采取的一系列措施阻止了数十亿美元的潜在欺诈计划。

The state also has been trying to clear a large number of unemployment claims — more than 940,000 as of January 20.

加州还一直在努力处理完大量的失业救济申请，截至1月20日仍然有超过94万笔失业救济申请等待处理。

Officials noted⁵ that similar fraud problems were widespread in other parts of the U.S. as well. Washington state was among the first hit with fraudulent unemployment claims believed to be tied to a West African fraud group. The group uses identities stolen in past data attacks, such as the 2017 Equifax incident.

官员们指出，类似欺诈在美国其它地区也很普遍。华盛顿州是其中一个受到欺诈性失业救济金申请打击的州，据称这跟西非的一个欺诈组织有关。该组织利用了过去数据攻击中窃取的身份，例如2017年的Equifax事件。

In Washington, more than $600 million dollars were lost from around 122,000 false claims. The state was able to get back around $357 million of that money by cooperating with federal law enforcement and financial companies across the country.

华盛顿州由于大约12.2万个虚假申请造成了6亿多美元的损失。该州通过跟联邦执法机构和金融公司合作，得以追回其中约3.57亿美元。

Investigators⁶ across California have been targeting unemployment fraud in recent months.

近几个月来，加州各地的调查人员也一直在调查失业救济金欺诈。

On Monday, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer announced charges against two business owners who opened up a store in order to file false unemployment claims. Spitzer also announced the prosecution⁷ of eight people, including six state prisoners, in two other unemployment fraud operations.

周一，奥兰治县地方检查官托德·斯皮策宣布了对两名企业主的指控，他们开了一家商店以提出虚假的失业救济金申请。斯皮策还宣布在另外两起失业救济金欺诈行动中对8人提出起诉，其中包括6名该州的囚犯。

This week, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and California Senators Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla urged President Joe Biden to create a federal group to help states stop organized criminal fraud in unemployment claims.

本周，美国众议院议长南希·佩洛西和加州参议员黛安·费恩斯坦以及亚历克斯·帕迪拉督促乔·拜登创建一家联邦组织，以帮助各州制止针对失业救济金申请的有组织刑事欺诈。

"California and many other states are experiencing fraud at a much greater rate than previously⁸ understood," they wrote.

他们写道：“加州和其它许多州面临的欺诈率比人们之前想象的要高得多。”

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 eligibility   

n.合格，资格

参考例句：

• What are the eligibility requirements? 病人被选参加试验的要求是什么？ 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望
• Eligibility for HINARI access is based on gross national income (GNI). 进入HINARI获取计划是依据国民总收入来评定的。

4 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

5 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

6 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

8 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。