Earlier this month, New York State Department of Labor announced that it has identified over 425,000 fraudulent unemployment benefit claims during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As we are seeing an increase in fraudulent claims during this time, we want to inform employees what they can do if an unemployment claim has been submitted using their information.
- Complete the following online form with New York State’s Department of Labor: https://labor.ny.gov/secure/fraud/report-fraud.shtm
- Review the Federal Trade Commission website (https://www.ftc.gov) and investigate possibilities of identity theft
- If you receive a debit card in the mail from the Department of Labor’s Unemployment Insurance Division, please destroy this card and keep any other notices as a record
- Immediately contact the three major credit bureaus to place a fraud alert on your credit records
If you are the victim of identity theft related to fraudulent unemployment insurance claims, you should also report the fraud to:
- Bank and credit card companies
- Law enforcement
- The FBI encourages victims to report fraudulent or any suspicious activities to the Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov.
You may also consult identitytheft.gov for help in reporting and recovering from identity theft.