Fraudulent Unemployment Claims
There has been a spike in fraudulent unemployment insurance claims complaints related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic involving the use of stolen personally identifiable information to submit fraudulent claims online. Criminals obtain the stolen information using a variety of techniques, including the online purchase of stolen information, previous data breaches, computer intrusions and email phishing schemes, among other methods. Many victims of identity theft related to unemployment insurance claims do not know they have been targeted until they try to file a claim for unemployment insurance benefits, receive a notification from the state unemployment insurance agency, receive an IRS Form 1099-G showing the benefits collected from unemployment insurance, or get notified by their employer that a claim has been filed while the victim is still employed.
Steps to Take in Response to a Fraudulent Claim
Notify the Alabama Department of Labor that a fraudulent unemployment claim has been filed on your behalf.
- Visit ADOL online and select the Report That You Suspect Someone Has Used Your Social Security Number to Work or Claim UI Benefits option.
- You will be prompted to enter:
- Your contact information (name, address, etc.)
- Suspect’s information, if known (if unknown, you may type “unknown” or leave it blank).
- Reason for suspected fraud. In this section you can enter the following statement, “I have been notified by my employer that an unemployment claim has been filed on my behalf. I am currently working and did not file a claim for unemployment compensation benefits. Any claims filed using my name and/or social security number are fraudulent.”
- After certifying your response, you will be able to submit the report and ADOL will investigate the suspicious activity. This is an important step as it will provide documentation to ADOL and help mitigate future issues, if any, should ADOL have questions regarding the fraudulent claim.
After filing a report with ADOL, consider also notifying the following organizations...
File a Police Report
If you decide to file a police report with your local authorities, ADOL recommends providing the same contact and suspect information submitted in your ADOL report, and indicate you believe you have been a victim of identity theft.
Internet Crime Complaint Center
The FBI encourages victims to report fraudulent or any suspicious activities to the Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov.
Additional Resources
- FBI sees spike in fraudulent unemployment insurance claims filed using stolen identities
- What is unemployment insurance fraud?
What should I do if I’m a victim of identity theft?
File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) online at IdentityTheft.gov or call 877-ID-THEFT. In addition, the FTC recommends that you:
- File a police report. Get a copy of the report to submit to your creditors and others that may require proof of the crime.
- Place a fraud alert on your credit reports. Place alerts via Equifax, Experian or TransUnion and review your credit reports periodically to ensure no new fraudulent activity has occurred.
- Check accounts that were opened without your permission. Close any accounts that you know or believe have been tampered with or opened fraudulently.
- Request your free credit report. Request reports via AnnualCreditReport.com and review them for other fraudulent activities.
- Log steps taken to address the situation. Include numbers called, names of people you talked to, dates of calls, emails and mailings. Keep copies of all correspondence, affidavits and reports.