Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have asserted that an identity verification company receiving millions in government contracts, misrepresented how well it was serving Americans.
ID.me downplayed how long Americans had to wait to have their identities verified when applying for unemployment benefits, and made baseless claims to increase demand for its services, according to the House Oversight Committee and Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.
Coronavirus Committee Chair Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., said in a statement that ID.me's false claims may hurt those seeking unemployment benefits.
"It is deeply disappointing that a company that received tens of millions in taxpayer dollars to help Americans obtain these benefits may have hurt their ability to access that critical relief," Clyburn said.
Related
"ID.me's practices risked putting desperately needed relief out of reach for Americans who lack ready access to computers, smartphones or the Internet. Companies entrusted with implementing critical programs in a national crisis must be able to serve the needs of the people those programs are intended to benefit."
ID.me uses facial recognition provided by third-party services to help authenticate people who apply for government resources like unemployment benefits. The Oversight committee started investigating ID.me in April after reports of long wait times for people who failed the initial authentication. ID.me told the IRS that average wait times were about two hours, even though they were actually over four hours in many states.
According to Politico, ID.me used to have a scheduling feature that could allow applicants to make an appointment for authentication rather than waiting hours to talk to a person. ID.me said in the document that it cut that feature because half of its users didn't show up to their appointments.
"In some cases, ID.me removed important customer service accommodations, making it more difficult for users to speak with trusted referees," Rep. Carolyn Maloney, said in a statement. "I am also deeply concerned about ID.me providing inaccurate information to federal agencies in order to be awarded millions of dollars in contracts."
