Menasha woman gets unemployment benefits; never filed for any

MENASHA, Wis. (WBAY) - Paige Spatz said her interactions with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development have been a nightmare.

“I kind of feel like I’ve almost been attacked, in a way,” Spatz said. “So starting May 7th, I realized I received unemployment benefits that I never filed for.”

Over several weeks she ended up with more than $8,000 in her bank account that she had a difficult time giving back.

“In total between May 7th to July 6th, I made 107 phone calls,” said Spatz.

Spatz said getting a hold of the DWD did not get the problem resolved.

“They started to tell me information that is extremely private of whose this individual’s money could possibly be, including their first name, their banking account their bank,” said Spatz. “Knowing that this individual could have similar numbers in their bank account such as mine started to get me quite nervous.”

Which is why she said she told the state she would only share her bank account information, so the money could be withdrawn, if she were assured doing so would clear her name.

“So from there they advised that they would give documentation, but I need to go ahead and give account information or I would get subpoenaed in court,” said Spatz.

The DWD told Action 2 News this ordeal was not the state’s mistake.

The agency said, “There was no mistake made by DWD-UI. UI routed money to the bank account number supplied by a legitimate UI claimant. The bank had an internal issue and a digit was changed on that account number, resulting in those UI benefits being put into Paige Spatz’s bank account.”

Friday morning, Spatz saw the money was drafted without any documentation.

Spatz said while the money is now out of her account, she still has unanswered questions.

Meantime, the state tells Action 2 News it is not aware of any similar issues or received any similar complaints.

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