The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry and the state office of Attorney General is warning people to remain on guard against fraud and identity theft.
Acting Labor and Industry Secretary Jennifer Berrier said that additional federal unemployment programming is now available, and with that, more scammers are trying to use people’s personal information to steal that money. Fraudsters are contacting their potential victims by phone, email, text or on social media and posing as Labor and Industry or other government entities to “help” claimants with issues so they can get the victim’s personal information. Another scam that has been reported is that the scammer claims to be an unemployment claimant on Facebook or Twitter and offering to help legitimate claimants with their issues over the phone or by email.
Berrier said that fraud hurts her department’s efforts to help those who legitimately deserve unemployment compensation benefits.
Brian Zarallo, the Chief Deputy PA Attorney General, said his office takes unemployment compensation fraud very seriously.
People are reminded that genuine Labor and Industry officials never contact anyone out of the blue and ask for their username, password, pin or full social security number, nor do they use social media to contact their clients. People who believe they have been hit by one of these scams are urged to call police, call the PA Fraud Hotline at 1-800-692-7469, or file a complaint online with the Federal Trade Commission at www.identitytheft.gov and file an unemployment claims fraud form with the Department of Labor and Industry on its website.
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