Tri-Cities sees rise in unemployment fraud claims during pandemic. What you can do to stop it
Scam artists are taking advantage of a surge in unemployment claims by creating fake accounts with stolen information.
The West Richland police along with other Tri-Cities agencies have seen a steep climb in the number of identity theft reports.
“Fraudsters have obtained Social Security numbers and opened fraudulent unemployment claims through the Washington State Employment Security Department,” West Richland police said in a Facebook post.
The warnings came as the state agency reported seeing a “dramatic rise” in unemployment imposter fraud through the first half of May as it continues to deal with the strain caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The crooks are getting a hold of people’s personal information through data breaches outside of the agency, said Employment Security Department Commissioner Suzi LeVine in a Monday release.
“Criminals then use this information to fraudulently apply for unemployment benefits in someone else’s name,” she said. “There has been no data breach from ESD’s system.”
Kennewick police are getting several reports a day from people who are victims of this identity fraud, said Lt. Aaron Clem. The cases cross industry, age group and location in the city.
In Richland, 151 people have filed reports in the past several weeks. Sgt. Drew Florence said he’s hardly seen these types of reports before.
“I don’t remember us having an unemployment fraud case recently before this,” he said. “The majority of people are getting contacted by their employers asking, ‘Why are you filing for unemployment when you’re already employed?’”
Pasco has seen a similar increase in reports of identity thefts since mid-May.
State officials said fraudulent claims were already running rampant before May, as the state and the nation deal with the implications of COVID-19.
The Employment Security Department told The Seattle Times for a May 14 story that the number of fraudulent unemployment benefit claims jumped 27-fold to 700 between March and April and suspected criminals collected nearly $1.6 million.
This is targeting people who’ve already had their personal information stolen for instance from the 2017 Equifax data break that exposed the personal information of 147 million people, police and state officials. Criminals then try to route the state payments to their own bank accounts.
“Many Washingtonians did not know their information had been stolen in the past, and this situation has only illuminated that fact as fraudsters attempt to get unemployment benefits in Washingtonians’ names,” LeVine said.
This type of fraud is not new or unique to Washington, and LeVine said her department has already taken a number of steps in an effort “to prevent, identify and block fraud,” including:
▪ Increasing the number of agents on the department’s fraud line, including 100 who started Thursday, May 13.
▪ Hiring additional fraud investigators.
▪ Working with other state agencies in Washington, other states and the U.S. Department of Labor to detect fraud activity.
The Employment Security Department also last week began holding payments an additional one to two days to validate claims, LeVine reported. Some customers are now asked to verify or provide certain information, according to Monday’s release.
“We are constantly evaluating our processes and systems to ensure we can pay benefits as quickly as possible to those who are qualified while not creating more opportunity for imposter fraud,” LeVine said in Friday’s release.
What to do
Pasco school officials sent out a memo to teachers as the state issued their warnings. Some district employees have been victims of the scam and leaders sent out information “to assist you in protecting your personal information.”
They offered a series of suggestions for people to protect themselves of being taken advantage of.
▪ Go to secure.esd.wa.gov/home and check to see if you already have a SecureAccess Washington account.
▪ If you don’t have one, then use your personal email to create one. This won’t start an unemployment claim, but it will associate your Social Security number with your email address
▪ If an account exists with your information you will get a warning that says, “The SSN you entered already exists and is linked ot this partly hidden email address.” If you don’t recognize the email, then you may be a victim of identity theft.
If you suspect someone has made a fraudulent claim in your name, the Employment Security Department suggested in its release Friday you take these steps:
▪ Report it to the Federal Trade Commission identity theft website at identitytheft.gov.
▪ Request free credit reports at annualcreditreport.com and review them for fraudulent activity.
▪ Find additional tips from the Washington State Attorney General at atg.wa.gov/recovering-identity-theft-or-fraud.
“I also suggest victims consider reviewing their credit reports and placing a free credit freeze on their credit files at the big three credit bureaus if they haven’t done so already,” WWU Vice Provost Information Technology and CIO Chuck Lanham said in the WECU release. “While a credit freeze would not stop unemployment fraud, it could protect their credit if their data is being used in other damaging ways.”
Things to remember
In Friday’s release, LeVine reminded Washington residents that:
▪ Victims of fraud will not have to repay money fraudulent claimed in their names by someone else.
▪ Victims of fraud will still be able to apply for unemployment benefits if and when they need them.
▪ The Employment Security Department will only be reaching out through the esd.wa.gov domain and asking people to provide information on its website.
“This is such a difficult and unprecedented time, and unfortunately criminals use situations like these to try and gain advantage,” LeVine said in Friday’s release. “While our agency is working around the clock to quickly get benefits out to Washingtonians who need them, we also are maintaining vigilance and taking action to combat fraudulent activities so we may pay out legitimate claims and block those who seek to do harm.”
This story was originally published May 19, 2020 at 12:47 PM.
