In the last two weeks we have observed two false unemployment claims and wanted to give everyone a heads up on what is going on and the actions you can take.
Unemployment Fraud Alert – Action Items
Over the past several years I personally have had two fraudulent unemployment claims made in my name oddly to my own company and Donald the Brain, has had it happen once to him as well. In the last two weeks we’ve had two instances of false unemployment claims being attempted and wanted to give everybody a heads up!
What happens is a Social Security number is obtained and a place of Employment then a false Unemployment claim is made to the employer. In all cases mentioned all persons were of course still employed and much to the surprise of the employer the unemployment claim was certainly a fraud and quickly detected.
The best and most appropriate action is to immediately send a note to the appropriate workforce commission, (in the state of Texas it is the Texas Workforce Commission) that the employee is still gainfully employed … this can be done by in most cases the employer or HR director.
The employee that is falsely having unemployment compensation filed for them will likely receive nothing at their home address as the fraudster wants the money to go to his or her address there by having a different address from the employee’s home address. Said another way it’s very likely that only the employer will receive the false filing.
We are happy to report in all cases so far there has been no further damage leading us to believe a Social Security number and Employment information we’re obtained illegitimately, and a swing was made at the unemployment payments with a miss being an indication to move on to the next person in line. Bottom line invasive but not destructive in all the cases so far.
Do keep your head on a financial swivel for other items in your financial world as it’s always a good idea to keep your eyes peeled on all credit and bank accounts post having fraud attempted with your Social Security number.
Partial School Week Over- Whew
The first partial week of school is over it’s funny how they’re not near as happy to go back to school as they were to get out of school… but it’s all good!
Have a great weekend will talk to you next week!
John A. Kvale CFA, CFP
Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.
A Dallas Texas based fee only
Financial Planning Total Wealth
Management firm.