The Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) is encouraging Pennsylvanians to remain vigilant about guarding their personal and confidential information and to monitor for signs that their information is being used fraudulently. 

"Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, foreign and domestic fraudsters have been exploiting unprecedented demand on the nation's unemployment compensation systems that exist to protect hardworking Americans and their families during times of hardship. Pennsylvania has responded with unprecedented enhancements in the security of our system," said L&I Secretary Jennifer Berrier. "The department will continue to work with law-enforcement agencies at every level to deter, catch and prosecute these bad actors. Claimants should monitor their accounts for unusual activity and alert authorities when they suspect fraud."

In the early months of the pandemic, fraudsters initially targeted the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, a special program created by the federal government to provide unemployment benefits to individuals who lost their job due to the COVID-19 pandemic and were not typically eligible for UC. In most of these fraud attempts, fraudsters used stolen identities – obtained from data breaches outside state government – to submit illegitimate claims.

More recently, fraudsters have increasingly targeted traditional UC. Pennsylvania's system for filing UC claims uses numerous fraud-detection measures, including virtual identity verification vendor ID.me to verify the identities of all new unemployment applicants. In the past six months, the department has thwarted fraudsters' attempts to steal more than $4.7 billion.

Additionally, L&I works with the National Unemployment Insurance Fraud Task Force and other partners, including the FBI, Homeland Security and additional law enforcement agencies, the state treasury and the state attorney general's office to identify and block new fraud methods and stop fraud attempts.

 Signs of fraud include:

• Individuals receiving unrequested unemployment paperwork from L&I's Office of Unemployment Compensation.
• Individuals receiving unemployment benefit payments they did not apply for from the Pennsylvania Treasury.
• Employers receiving notice that a claim has been opened for a current employee who is actively working, or an unknown person.

Report Fraud

Online:

• Individuals can report suspected unemployment fraud by visiting the UC Benefits Website and clicking "Report Fraud" at the bottom of the page to complete and submit the Identity Theft Form. Do not log in.
• Employers should indicate the claim is fraudulent in their response to the Notice of Claim Filed.
• To report identity theft fraud related to the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, please click here. 

To report fraud by phone, call the PA Fraud Hotline at 1-800-692-7469.

L&I recommends that individuals who suspect they are the victims of identity theft to file a police report with local law enforcement and provide a copy of the police report to the Office of Unemployment Compensation.

The U.S. Department of Labor recommends that victims of identity theft should also report their information to the National Center for Disaster Fraud. Victims should also consider starting a recovery plan with the Federal Trade Commission.