Half of the pandemic's unemployment money may have been stolen

Someone made an unemployment claim for my grandma, who has been dead for a decade (and was a stay-at-home [grand]mother since the Korean War before then). Why did the states have zero common sense verifications that the claim was in the name of a citizen who is still alive?

You aren't wrong to be skeptical of the author/purpose of the article but the claims that are being made are very likely to be true. I have a friend in my states unemployment office and another friend in a different states department of labor. Both have been complaining about the rampant, and obvious, fraud for months. Early in the pandemic someone tried to file a claim in my wifes name and it was shut down during employment verification but the federal funds may have been sent anyway.