DEO

A DeBary Parks Department employee discovered his identity was being used to collect unemployment benefits after he won a $1,000 Gold Rush Supreme scratch-off prize last October.

A preliminary review by News 6 found several residents have experienced similar cases where Homeowner Assistance funds paid by the DEO could not be accounted for.

Since late February, the Department of Economic Opportunity has navigated a post-COVID financial lifeline for more than 11,000 homeowners across the state.

The bartender and former Applebee’s manager was set to go on vacation, so the timing of a big cash prize on a single-ticket purchase was almost too good to be true.

At the strike of midnight Saturday, the Department of Economic Opportunity’s successful Homeowner Assistance Program will stop accepting new registrations from Florida homeowners seeking financial help.

Peter and his wife Nanette told News 6 they borrowed money and depleted 10 years of savings waiting for the Department of Economic Opportunity to issue Peter’s unemployment benefits dating back to September 2020.

The DEO reviewed Julie Meier’s case and issued a total of $13,560 dollars into her bank account within a period of three weeks.

VIDEO: Florida Homeowners still waiting on COVID relief VIDEO: Florida Homeowners still waiting on COVID relief (Christopher Heath, WFTV.com/WFTV)ORLANDO, Fla. — More than a year after President Biden approved $676 million for Florida homeowners financially impacted by COVID-19, residents say they are still struggling to get answers from the state agency responsible for distributing the money. “I have never had to ask for this kind of help in my life,” says Lake County resident Darren Cerier. The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, the same state agency that oversees unemployment, was tasked with distributing the hundreds of millions of dollars to homeowners. “It has been difficult,” says Brevard County resident Stephanie Hare. “I am grateful for the assistance; however, there is no transparency,” says Seminole County resident Scott Silver.

Carsa Craighton has been waiting since December 2020 to have more than $4,000 in state unemployment benefits reissued to her Way2Go debit card after the Department of Economic Opportunity took the funds back.

A 74-year-old's lottery winnings were withheld when the DEO said he was overpaid for unemployment benefits. However, he's been retired since 2014.

After more than two years of waiting for 36 weeks of state and federal unemployment benefits, worth more than $14,000, an unemployed DeLand woman is one step closer to collecting her cash.

This is the latest edition of the Make Ends Meet newsletter.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — More than a year after President Joe Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan and more than two months after the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity opened its portal for pre-applications, Florida homeowners impacted by COVID-19, Florida homeowners are still waiting. As part of the ARP, the state has $670 million for homeowners who can show financial hardship due to COVID-19. “I wish I could say how much longer I’ll be waiting, but I just don’t know,” said homeowner Scott Silver. READ: Florida’s homeowner’s insurance market continues to spiral with 9 companies in liquidationOn Feb. 28, the DEO launched its registration portal for prospective applicants to the Homeowner Assistance Fund. That same day Scott registered; he’s still waiting.

The scammers are back on the robocall circuit and according to the Federal Trade Commission, 2.8 million people lost an estimated $5.2 billion dollars to conmen in 2021 alone.

Tom O’Rourke, a 65-year-old from Palm Coast, lost his job and discovered someone else had already been collecting unemployment benefits under his name before News 6 stepped in to help.

When Kathleen Masters’ husband Ron died from complications linked to COVID-19, she never imagined the state’s unemployment security system would block the release of his 1099-G tax form.

The fight to change Florida’s sexual assault law appears to be destined to fade away this legislative session, leaving a potential loophole for anyone accused of raping someone incapacitated by drugs or alcohol.

An unemployed Tampa travel nurse recruiter has been blocked from state unemployment benefits after working 25 hours as a customer service phone representative.

Anna Marie Blair called News 6 and the Make Ends Meet team after getting that unexpected response from the DEO last week.

The latest version of unemployment fraud showed up in the files of a Central Florida commercial real estate company as 18 people filed claims for a company they never worked for.

In October, Baker landed what she thought was the perfect at home job offer but it turned out to be a scheme she has seen dozens of times since.

Sylvia Intelisano, 74, of Palm County, Florida said she will never forget the overpayment notice she received from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

With an open space where the kitchen stove used to be, a broken-down refrigerator and a bank overdraft of nearly $500, Nedda Ryan had run out of financial options because of a mistake by the Department of Economic Opportunity.

The Department of Labor is planning to develop job training and workforce programs to address the specific needs of cities coast to coast, U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh told News 6.

John “Jack” Sullivan never thought he would be collecting unemployment benefits at this stage of his life, but at 78 years old, the retired sales manager not only needed benefits, but was “stuck” waiting for those benefits since August 2020.

The South Florida real estate appraiser and father of two said COVID-19 created a void that forced him to turn to part-time work to make ends meet.

A veteran Volusia County Schools paraprofessional recently discovered her Department of Economic Opportunity account had been hacked by an imposter.

Beverly Jerome and her husband have been caught in a state unemployment “return to work” issue dating back to Sept. 22, 2020.

The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity is on pace to pay back benefits for every remaining unemployment week by early 2022, according to new data released by the DEO to WKMG-TV.

We're taking you behind-the-scenes of Make Ends Meet. The segment initially started as something different before exposing the DEO's broken unemployment system.

Sara Marie, of Fort Myers, is one of thousands of Florida residents tired of waiting for unpaid unemployment benefits, wondering if they will ever get paid.

The mother of two faced another system glitch that locked her DEO account in July, blocking an estimated seven weeks, $1,200, in back-benefits.

A single mother of three and a man have been living the same Department of Economic Opportunity benefits delay for the last 6 months.

From mid-March to May 2020, the DEO was automatically requesting payments for people. “All I drew (for unemployment) was about six weeks,” Watwood said. They’re among those dealing with the latest round of overpayment notices from DEO. Read: City of Winter Park hosting job fair to fill 50 open positions“Navigating this has been one of the newest crises of the unemployment system,” State Rep. Anna Eskamani said. “While the system automatically processed your Reemployment Assistance benefits, claimants will now need to recertify these weeks in the system.

A missing 1-year-old boy last seen in Marion County on Tuesday may be with two adults heading to Illinois, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.

Hurricane season is slow and may close up shop early, and that’s a good thing!

A wide range of outdoor festivals are popping up across our area on Saturday.

Instead of a check for $1,000, a Titusville waitress received a check for $175 with an explanation that the missing funds were directed to the DEO because of an unemployment benefits overpayment.

A local audio engineer and his family are out of sync after trying to acquire his “expired” benefits from the Department of Economic Opportunity for the past six months.

When Orange County Fire Rescue veteran Erik Siena lost his 5-month battle with brain cancer this past May, his wife Cristy filed for the death benefit provided under Florida Senate Bill 426.

ID.me, the company hired to verify the identification of Florida unemployment account holders has launched a full-court press to stop cybercriminals employing social engineering to steal the personal information of claimants applying for unemployment assistance.

ORLANDO, FLA. — After 18 months of people reporting problems receiving payments from the state’s unemployment system, now many are receiving bills; the Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) says those claimants were overpaid. “All I drew [for unemployment] was about six weeks,” Watwood said. Neither of them have thought about Florida’s unemployment system since they stopped collecting benefits more than a year ago, until they received bills from the DEO. “Navigating this has been one of the newest crises of the unemployment system,” state Rep. Anna Eskamani said. Although the system has automatically processed re-employment assistance benefits, claimants will now need to recertify these weeks in the system.

Volusia County schools is reopening its online learning application for students Friday morning.

An ambitious security protocol launched by the Department of Economic Opportunity is aimed to help protect claimants in Florida.

Stephanie Lindgren had been waiting since April of last year to get a claimant ID number issued by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity so she could collect state and federal unemployment benefits of more than $30,000.

A Port St. Lucie man’s five-month battle to recoup more than $11,000 in state and federal unemployment benefits may finally be resolved this week, thanks to the Department of Economic Opportunity and News 6.

The now infamous DEO PIN reset debacle was successfully addressed and updated this week; however, the software remedy saw thousands of people still unable to apply for weekly benefits because their state unemployment accounts were locked and, in some cases, their identifications needed to be verified again.

The Department of Economic Opportunity starts the first wave of PIN reset instructions to claimants stuck in the PIN reset loop.

Thousands of state unemployment accounts were locked without warning this week in a move to counter a potential data breach.

A leasing agent handling properties near the UCF campus has been waiting three months to collect unemployment benefits after a cyber thief collected state benefits in her name while she was still working.

The Department of Economic Opportunity says there was a data security incident involving potentially fraudulent activity connected to claimant accounts within the Reemployment Assistance Claims and Benefits Information System, commonly known as CONNECT.

Anna Maria Brown’s unemployment benefits have been stuck in “pending status” because a five-day job with a Miami pet clinic last October triggered a returned to work status from the Department of Economic Opportunity.

Kelly Salter’s decision to undergo knee replacement surgery was supposed to coincide with a scheduled layoff from her kitchen supervisor job at Rollins College.

click to enlarge Myvaccine.fl.gov interfaceThe state of Florida has gone live with a website for Floridians to "pre-register" to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. We can only hope it functions better than the DEO virtual waiting room to register for unemployment benefits.The site, myvaccine.fl.gov , aims to offer a central online hub where residents can get in the queue to receive the vaccine in their home counties.Once you have used the site to pre-register, you will be contacted by phone or email when vaccination appointment slots become available in your county.Currently there are only four categories of the Florida populace eligible for vaccination: Florida residents 65 or more years of age; long-term care facility residents and staff; healthcare personnel with direct patient contact; and individuals deemed especially vulnerable to COVID-19.Those who don't meet any of those criteria may sign up through that same website to receive email updates on changes in eligibility requirements.

click to enlarge Screenshot via DEO websiteOver the past couple weeks, Floridas unemployment claims have skyrocketed and the $7.7 million website meant to handle it all has been a catastrophic failure.However, yesterday the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity debuted a new mobile-friendly site that, so far, seems to actually work.The new site can be found here: www.FloridaJobs.org/RAApplication On Wednesday, the state of Florida also rolled out a new mobile-friendly coronavirus page, which can be found at: www.FloridaJobs.org/COVID-19 . The new site features links to the new job site, as well as info about paper applications.According to the site, before applying be sure to have the following: Social Security number Drivers License or State ID number Your employment for the last 18 months including for each employerAdditionally, if you are one of the following, make sure you have this additional information available: Not a US Citizen: Alien Registration Number or other work authorization form Military Employee: DD-214 Member 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 may be used Federal Employee: SF 8 or SF 50 Union Member: Union Name, Hall Number, and Phone Number