AUGUSTA, Maine (WGAN) Mainers filed about 2,600 first-time claims for unemployment benefits last week, down from about 3,800 claims the week before.

The Maine Department of Labor said Thursday morning that about 2,000 initial claims were filed for traditional state unemployment benefits, while 600 claims were filed for federal pandemic unemployment assistance.

Between March 15 and July 25, the labor department paid out more than $1.24 billion in federal and state benefits. The department paid out less than $74 million in benefits for all of 2019.

The state continues to carefully review each claim as it investigates unemployment imposter fraud, which is when someone’s personally identifiable information is stolen and used illegally to apply for unemployment benefits.

During the week ending July 25, the department says it cancelled about 670 initial claims and 260 weekly certifications that were determined to be fraudulent.