I learned late yesterday that someone filed for unemployment comp with my SSN#. My H.R. department called me (at my desk at work) to ask if it was fraudulent. Do you think?!..

From what I can gather, my next steps are to file a state police report, and enter it as fraud with the state unemployment website. I had already placed locks (proactive as I don't need new lines of credit etc) on all three credit agencies. So I assume I'm ok there. But we'll try to get a report while we're doing reaction stuff.

Anything else you can think of that I'm missing?

Maybe contact the IRS also. It’s tax season; you don’t want someone filing for and collecting your tax return.

quote:

Maybe contact the IRS also. It’s tax season; you don’t want someone filing for and collecting your tax return.

The first return processed under your SS# is the only return accepted by IRS's system. If you can file yours tomorrow you may get ahead of any false return. If the return is accepted (it usually only takes a minute or two) you have no worry for 2020 taxes as your filing beat the false filing. Do not call IRS until you know for sure, as IRS will put a hold on your tax return. I have seen it take up to 3 years for IRS to process a flagged account.

Happened to me. Luckily the state never paid out. I sent in all their fraud forms right away by certified mail and online. If they paid anything you may have something else to file with the IRS. My wife had to do something similar a couple years ago when it happened to her.

Hopefully you never really need unemployment now.

IRS.gov and identitytheft.gov

You can file a report with both of the entities above online. I wouldn't bother state or local LEO with it. You'd likely be wasting both of your time.

Big breach in Ohio. Website has a special tab on it now for just that.

I used to deal with this every year. Sorry this happened.

There is no need to file a local police report(you have no idea where the theft took place and it is outside of their jurisdiction) with regard to tax fraud.

Contact Your state unemployment division and follow their advise with regard to reporting to the local police. They may investigate their own crimes and locals don’t have jurisdiction. This Varys from state to state.

Fill out this form. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f14039.pdf

File your taxes as normal.

Go get a free credit report available thru the three credit bureaus....then use the others each quarter to keep up with it.

Lock you credit....

I just heard yesterday California has something like 10 billion dollars in false claims which they paid out. A screwed up system IMO.

Same thing happened to me, only I live in Michigan and they tried filing in New Jersey under an old address. The only reason I found out is because my ex wife told me the notice that it was not accepted came to her house.

One of the problems I have run into is that this is so wide spread I couldn't even contact a real person with the New jersey unemployment agency. I had to leave a voicemail. The system is just bogged down.

A little after that somebody opened an account at a credit union with the same info.

I have all of my credit frozen and Experian is monitoring things for me, but it is still very unnerving.

quote:

Originally posted by Krazeehorse:
Big breach in Ohio. Website has a special tab on it now for just that.

Do you have a link to that tab? I had it happen to me late last year when I got a Visa debit card in the mail from the Ohio unemployment office, even though I’ve never lived or worked in Ohio. I tried calling their fraud number numerous times, but could never get through, so ended up emailing them, but never heard back. Did a fraud alert with the credit bureaus and been checking my credit, but it’s pretty unnerving.

Very sorry to hear that-

Had a friend who had to deal with the IRS over this and they would not tell him the address the character used to file (his) return.
Privacy, ya know.

It might be a good opportunity to change your key passwords. Hard to tell if this person is a "pro" or a moron...

You can consider creating an account at irs.gov to look up your information online and see the income(s).

I read something on this a couple weeks ago. Because of the extra "covid bonus" added to unemployment checks the amount of fraud exploded. The IRS is going to be overwhelmed with fraud cases which is going to make processing regular taxes much slower this year delaying refund checks.
Maybe they won't have the time for random audits this year either.

Equifax and numerous other sources have been kind enough to expose a lot of our info.

I will add if you don't have an account set up with the IRS you should. Everyone should even if you don't use any of the online stuff. This prevents someone else from setting up an account with your information.

Also set up an account with Social Security. Even if your not retiring anytime soon it will also prevent someone from making an account with your name. A friend had someone create an account with info stolen and file for disability. They told him if would have been much harder to do if he had an account setup himself so they couldn't create one.

Make sure you use a strong password that your remember.

Links you will need:
https://www.identitytheft.gov/
https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/t...de-to-identity-theft

Create a MySocialSecurity account here. Why? You can set up a account and check your earnings to insure that all of your earnings have been reported accurately to social security:
https://www.ssa.gov/myaccount/

Creating a MySocialSeccurity account improves your security situation in several ways. I urge you to do it.

Also: Request a free credit report from each of the three credit bureaus. Visit www.annualcreditreport.com.

My advice would be to file your 2020 tax return as soon as you can. If the person who used your SSN files first and IRS processes it, you will be locked out. You'll have to file on paper. IRS won't accept the return electronically. IRS doesn't name check tax returns. They use the SSN only to process the return. (At least that was the case before I retired from Social Security about 4 yrs ago. That may have changed.)

Finally, the vast majority (over 95%) of these situations are not really true identity theft. Identity theft involves someone who uses your your social security number AND your name. If only your number is being used, it's more of a nuisance.

People want to hide that they are working because they are trying to evade and not pay child support. Happens all the time. If they work under their correct SSN, eventually child support will catch up with them. Some people do it because they are on disability or getting workers comp. So they use a random SSN number (which could be yours) to avoid getting caught. Sometimes it's an honest mistake. Occasionally a woman on public assistance will use a fake SSN to work and still collect benefits.

If they are not using your name, just your SSN, not much is going to happen - except that IRS doesn't name check the returns, so that could be a problem. If you file before the other guy, problem solved. His return gets bumped, not yours. As far as Social Security goes, your earnings record should not get messed up if only the number was used and there is no name match to your SSN. If earnings are reported under your SSN, but there is no name match, the earnings get dumped into a suspense file. There are literally billions of dollars in the suspense file. That's probably news to a lot of people. (That's why it is so important for women who marry and use their husband's last name to report their name change to SSA to insure that they get credit for their earnings.)

You can set up a MySocialSecurity account to insure your earnings have been properly reported to SSA. But I doubt very much that there is a problem.

Happened to me last week, along with a handful of coworkers.

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:
Anything else you can think of that I'm missing?

Maybe I should make this an annual post, much like whomever does it with the pet meds thing monthly.

• Freeze your credit reports at the big three credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
  
• Freeze your reports at the agency many utilities and service providers use to check you when starting a new service: National Consumer Telecom & Utilities Exchange (NCTUE)
  
• Freeze your reports at the agency many banks and credit unions use when you open a new account: ChexSystems
  
• Sign up for identity theft protection with one of the major identity theft protection services, such as IdentityForce, LifeLock, etc.
  
• Sign up for Informed Delivery at USPS. Do the same at UPS and FedEx.
  
• If you own property and wherever your property records are maintained offers it: Sign up for property record change notifications. Deed theft is a real thing.
  

quote:

Originally posted by Fed161:
Create a MySocialSecurity account here. Why? You can set up a account and check your earnings to insure that all of your earnings have been reported accurately to social security:
https://www.ssa.gov/myaccount/

Creating a MySocialSeccurity account improves your security situation in several ways. I urge you to do it.

Good one. I hadn't known of that one. I'll add it to my list. Thanks!

What about creating an account at View Your Account Information (IRS)? Seems like a good idea, too.

And, of course:

• Never use the same or similar passwords for any two or more accounts
  
• Use strong passwords
  
• Use an encrypted keyring on mobile devices and computer to keep track of your account credentials
  

If you have a significant other, make sure they'll be able to access said encrypted keyring in the event of your untimely demise. One of my best friends failed to do that and his widow is paying the price to this day.

I had someone file an unemployment claim against me a couple of months ago. I was sent a form with his name, address, SS# and asked to verify employment. I never heard of the guy and let the state know. I would expect the state to investigate for fraud. Instead they just rejected the claim.