If you are a victim of unemployment insurance fraud, it’s essential to take the appropriate steps to protect yourself and your finances. Unfortunately, this type of crime is on the rise, and it can be difficult to get your money back if you fall victim. In this blog post, we will discuss ten steps that you should take if you’re a victim of unemployment insurance fraud.
- Report The Crime
If you believe that someone has defrauded the unemployment insurance system, get in touch with your state’s unemployment insurance agency right away. You can find contact information for your state’s unemployment insurance agency on the Office of Unemployment Insurance website.
- Request A Crime Investigation
The insurance agency will investigate claims of fraud. If they determine that you were the victim of unemployment insurance fraud, they will likely investigate the case and prosecute if warranted.
- Provide Documents And Information
Because you may not be able to recover your money without a fraud investigation, it’s important to cooperate fully with the unemployment insurance agency. This means giving them all relevant documents and information, such as pay stubs and bank statements, to help them with their investigation. This is especially important if the insurance agency contacts you. Be sure to follow the instructions and answer all questions related to your case.
- Report The Insurance Fraud
Even if you’re not a victim of this insurance fraud, it’s essential that you report people who are committing these types of crimes. If other people don’t report an unemployment insurance crime, it will continue to occur. This insurance fraud is a serious crime that hurts people who are legitimately looking for work or getting unemployment benefits they deserve. This is a great article about how to report unemployment insurance fraud quickly: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/unemployment-insurance-payment-accuracy/UIFraudReporting
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- Keep Good Records
In order for the insurance agency investigators to make a crime determination, they may need your help in providing records and information. However, if you don’t keep good records yourself, it can be even more challenging to provide the insurance agency with exactly what they need.
- Know What To Do If Your Benefits Are Denied
Even if you’re a victim of this insurance crime, there may be times when you’ll receive a letter from the insurance agency denying your claim. It’s important to be familiar with what you can do when this happens. In most cases, you’ll have the opportunity to appeal. However, if the insurance agency determines that you defrauded the system, you won’t be able to appeal.
- Know Your Rights As A Victim Of Insurance Crime
If you’ve reported the insurance crime and the case is still under investigation, it’s imperative to know your rights. While the insurance agency is investigating, you shouldn’t have any contact with the people under investigation. In other words, you shouldn’t speak to them about the case or ask for your money back. This can interfere with the investigation and result in additional charges or penalties for you down the road.
- Prosecute The Fraudsters
If individuals are prosecuted for this insurance crime, they may face fines and prison sentences if convicted. It’s vital that people who commit the insurance crime receive the proper penalties and punishment that fit the crime. If they aren’t punished, they may continue to defraud the system in the future.
- Get Back Your Benefits
Even if you’re a victim of the insurance crime, you can request that your benefits be paid through a back pay award. To receive a back pay award, you must ensure that your benefits were wrongfully denied and that you didn’t defraud the system.
- Don’t Give Up And Keep On Fighting
If you are the victim of the insurance crime, you cannot be charged with a crime or lose your benefits. You should be aware of your rights to know what to expect when you report insurance crime. Try reaching out to your state’s unemployment office to report the fraud as soon as possible. If there happen to be several false claims in multiple states, you’ll have to reach out to each state’s office individually. If you need to make an authentic benefits claim, but you have a fraudulent claim on your record, you’ll need to work with this department closely.
Conclusion –
You can visit the FTC’s identity theft website to report the fraudulent claim and get more information on other best practices. You may want to report the fraud to your local police department as well. Make sure you also let your current employer or former company know about it. You should also file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud by calling them at 1-866-720-5721.
You’ll also want to reach out to each of the three credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, to put a fraud alert on your account and freeze your credit. These steps will not prevent unemployment fraud from being committed, but they could help to deter further crime, so it’s a good idea. If you need help understanding what’s on your credit report, we offer a Credit Report Review service that might be helpful. Reach out to us anytime!
