Fraudulent Unemployment Claims Information for Employers

Fraudulent Unemployment Claims Information

May 29, 2020

Good afternoon,

The Maine Department of Labor (MDOL) takes its responsibility to uphold the integrity of the unemployment program very seriously. With the unprecedented increase in unemployment insurance claims over the past two months due to COVID-19, Maine, along with the rest of the country, is seeing an increase in reports of imposter fraud. Imposter fraud is when someone’s Personally Identifiable Information, or PII, is stolen and used by someone else to apply for unemployment benefits.

In order to continue thoroughly investigating fraudulent unemployment claims, the Maine Department of Labor has put a 48-72 hour hold on this week’s benefit payments. For initial claims, the Department is also reinstating its typical 10-14 day processing time so that new claims can be verified with employers. MDOL will continue to work with our federal and state law enforcement partners to investigate and prevent fraud, while paying benefits to eligible Maine workers as quickly as possible.

Scammers use stolen PII from outside data breaches or other illicit means to create fraudulent unemployment claims in our system, in hopes that innocent people whose information has been compromised never know that a claim was filed using their identity.

Unemployment fraud is not only a risk to the individuals whose identities were stolen, but also to employers who fund the payment of benefits through taxes. 

If you—both employers or individuals--believe that someone else has used your information to file a fraudulent unemployment application, please notify the Maine Department of Labor immediately using the online reporting form:  https://www.maine.gov/unemployment/idtheft/.

Suspected fraud can also be reported to the National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form or (866) 720-5721.

If you think someone is using your personal information to open accounts, file taxes or make purchases, visit https://www.identitytheft.gov to report and recover from identity theft. Additional identity theft resources can be found at https://www.maine.gov/ag/privacy/identity_theft.shtml or https://www.ftc.gov/faq/consumer-protection/report-identity-theft.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

From the Maine Department of Labor

Maine Department of Labor and Maine CareerCenters provide equal opportunity in employment and programs. Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request.