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The Secret Service has detected a large-scale foreign attack on the U.S. unemployment system that is processing record numbers of jobless claims amid the pandemic, according to The New York Times.

In a Secret Service memo obtained by the Times, the agency described the attack as a well-organized Nigerian fraud ring that could lead to "potential losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars."

"We are actively running down every lead we are getting," Roy Dotson, a special agent who specializes in financial fraud at the Secret Service, said in an interview with investigators obtained by the Times.

The attackers are reportedly using previously obtained Social Security numbers and other personal information to claim unemployment benefits.