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. California Labor 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. 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. 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.