The first question you may get from your employees who are victims of fraud is “How did they get my information?” and/or “What information do they have on me?”
In order to file an unemployment claim, a fraudster needs to, at the very least, have a person’s name and full Social Security Number. Depending on the state, additional information such as a date of birth or driver’s license number may also be needed. Stolen personal identifiable information (PII) can be bought online, or by taking advantage of prior data breaches, intrusions, email phishing, or cold calling using an impersonation scheme. Fraudsters have many ways to get the pieces of information they need. This type of information is widely available for sale on the dark web.
To put your employees mind at ease, you may want to check with your internal IT department as well as any vendors you use for your HRIS and payroll functions to ensure that their systems are secure. Thomas & Company has done the same exercise and our data has not been compromised.