WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Criminals have targeted Kansas' unemployment system in a multibillion dollar fraud scheme that has delayed relief payments to thousands of people around the state who lost their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic, officials say.

Ryan Wright, the acting secretary of the Kansas Department of Labor, said the agency has blocked at least 45,000 fraudulent payments this year. The agency doesn't know how much money the fraudsters are believed to have stolen in Kansas, but the Legislature approved an audit of the program to determine how many payments slipped through to them, Th...