1 typo sent his $11,782 in unemployment benefits to a stranger — and his bank couldn't help. Check this before your next deposit

When he asked his bank to pull the money back, he said it wouldn’t act unless the New York State Department of Labor started a recall.

A 16-week wait, then a lost deposit

Walters lost his job as a data analyst at a New York hospital in November 2025, which he blames on artificial intelligence. His unemployment claim was denied twice. He won at a hearing, but only after waiting about 16 weeks for it.

Then his benefits went astray. Walters said his bank “couldn’t do anything unless the Department of Labor actually initiated a recall. I don’t know why … I felt like I had nowhere else to go, really. I didn’t know what else to do at that point.”

While he waited, he did DoorDash deliveries and cleaned houses. Then he called ABC7, and its team worked with the Department of Labor and Walters’ bank. The holdup came down to one piece of paperwork. Once that was sorted out, $11,782.54 was deposited into his account.

That’s more than 13 weeks of payments at New York’s maximum weekly benefit of $869. “I think you put a lot of pressure on them and got them to do the right thing,” Walters told ABC7. He has also since found a job.

Why the bank couldn’t just fix it

Under Nacha’s ACH rules, a receiving bank may rely solely on the account number when it posts a deposit, and it isn’t required to match the name. So if your typo happens to match a real account, the money can land there.

New York’s Department of Labor tells filers to “enter your checking account information accurately” and says bad information can delay benefits by 14 to 21 days. But its direct-deposit FAQ doesn’t address what happens when the number belongs to someone else.

Check this before your next deposit

Each state runs its own unemployment program, so the process varies depending on where you filed. But Walters’ mistake could happen anywhere you give an agency your bank details.