What can I do to be more proactive in protecting my employee’s information and trying to stop unemployment fraud?

There may be very little that can be done to prevent fraud, but you can take some steps to ensure that your employee’s data is protected and secure.

• Look for claims that come in sequentially (by name or by SSN) or from one location/division that has not been subject to furloughs or layoffs. We have seen cases where the fraudsters appear to be using a listing and filing claims in the same order that the information appears on their list.
• We have recently seen an increase in claims filed with random names and Social Security Numbers of people that never worked for your company or for employees who have not worked for you in the past 5-10 years.  The fraudsters appear to be taking advantage of an overloaded system to try to get even a few weeks of benefits before it is reported as potential fraud.
• If you receive a claim for someone who is still working or for recent retirees, you may want to verify with the employee or retiree if they initiated the claim for unemployment. Fraudsters will often use existing employee listings and hope that the overtaxed systems will let their claims slide through the cracks.
• Have your IT department perform a scan to ensure that the data on your system has not been compromised. Reach out to your HRIS and payroll vendors and ask for confirmation that their systems and security are still intact. Thomas & Company has been scanning our systems for intrusions and the data shared with us is secured.
• Create an alert workforce by sharing information about fraud with them and alerting them to the kinds of things they should be looking for. We have prepared a one-page bulletin that can be shared with your workforce.

• Identity Theft Protection programs may be able to identify the source of the stolen identity and protect your employees identity. If you do not offer an Identity Theft Protection program or your plan does not offer assistance in uncovering the source of the identity theft, we have partnered with Aura Identity Guard, a leader in identity theft protection, to provide your employees with protection for a low monthly rate.  Aura is unique in that your employee will be assigned a dedicated Case Manager as a single point of contact to assist with:

  • 1. Contacting the state workforce agency to help resolve the UI Fraud claim.
    2. Determining if they have been a victim of other identity theft and help them resolve it.
    3. Providing ongoing protection from fraud to help achieve personal and financial goals.

  For more information about Aura Identity Guard, please visit (identityguard.com/thomasco).