Beware of Fraudulent Unemployment Claims
Unfortunately, fraudulent unemployment claims have dramatically increased and affected hundreds of thousands. What happens is this: imposters file unemployment claims for people who are still employed, using the victim’s personal information that was either stolen or purchased on the dark web.
To do your best to prevent identity and information theft that fraudsters, follow the tips by clickin on this link: US government identity theft website
Anyone who finds themself a victim of a fraudulent unemployment insurance claim should take the following steps:
- Report the incident to https://identitytheft.gov which is managed by the Federal Trade Commission
- Contact your local police department and file a report (when possible)
- Report the incident to the state Unemployment Insurance benefits agency in which the imposter claim was filed
- Place a freeze alert on your credit record with each of the 3 credit bureaus:
- Equifax – 866/349-5191 or www.equifax.com
- Experian – 888/397-3742 or www.experian.com
- TransUnion – 800/680-7289 or www.transunion.com
- Order a free credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion are currently offering free weekly online reports through April 2021
- Contact your financial providers (banks, credit card companies, and so on.) to flag irregular transactions.
