Thousands of people who are back in work have been warned to close their Pandemic Unemployment Payment claims on the day of their return.
The Department of Social Protection confirmed on Monday that there has been a decrease of 24,000 people claiming the PUP in the last week.
However, they warned that a large team of gardai is currently tracking down cases of fraud and using "data analytics" to help "ensure people close their claim as they return to work".
The group is also undertaking employer inspections and checking out reports from both employers and members of the public.
A spokesman said: "The Department conducts a series of pre and post-payment checks on all PUP claims which include continuing eligibility checks. Subject to these checks being cleared the Department then processes payments based on the clients’ self-declaration.
"The Department runs post-payment checks that includes verifying data against Revenue records, examining cases where the same Bank account is used multiple times, examining cases where an employer or members of the public report concerns, and the use of data analytics to identify and check claims. It also undertakes employer inspections.
"This work is undertaken by the Department’s Special Investigation Unit, which includes over 20 Gardaí on secondment to the Department.
"As the industry re-opens the Department’s inspectors will be conducting control reviews and matching records against employer payroll data from the Revenue Commissioners to help ensure people close their claim as they return to work. To avoid incurring an overpayment people returning to work should close their claim and can do so easily at www.MyWelfare.ie"
The spokesman added: "Customers and members of the public are reminded about scam phone calls and text messages they may receive from individuals claiming to be an official of the Department. These calls and texts display a range of numbers, including some which may appear to be from the Department’s phone numbers.
"The Department would like to remind all its customers that it will never seek personal information from customers via text message and will never ask a customer for their bank details over the phone."
Speaking on the latest figures, Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys said: “This week, we have seen another fall in the number of people receiving the Pandemic Unemployment Payment as we continue to make progress in re-opening our economy and suppressing the virus.
“In fact, there are now over 214,000 fewer people being supported by the PUP compared to the second week of February.
“Over the past seven days alone, almost 24,000 people closed their PUP claims in order to return to work.
“Therefore, we are expecting further falls in the overall PUP numbers in the weeks ahead."
