Marshall (KMHL) – The Marshall Police Department is warning community members of a new unemployment fraud scheme. Some people in the area have received letters from Minnesota Unemployment Insurance notifying them that they have applied for unemployment benefits when in fact they had not. Oftentimes their employer received the same letter. These cases are the result of identity theft where the victim’s personal identification information is used by another actor to fraudulently apply for unemployment benefits.
If you receive this letters it is recommended that you:
- File a fraud report with Minnesota Unemployment Insurance using their online form, which is found on their webpage, https://www.uimn.org/applicants/needtoknow/fraud/ui-fraud.jsp, as soon as possible. This way MN Unemployment Insurance can flag the application as fraudulent so that no benefits are paid out.
- File a Police Report so that the identity theft incident is documented.
- File a fraud alert with one of the major credit reporting agencies and/or participate in a credit monitoring or identity theft protection service.
- Change passwords on your e-mail, banking, and other personal accounts.
More information about identity theft can be found on the Federal Trade Commission website, https://www.identitytheft.gov/steps.
