NY unemployment identity theft discovered after strange tourism fund application - help!

This happened to me last year! Someone hacked my account and filed for benefits using my info. Definitely file that police report ASAP and get the ID theft affidavit filed. Also freeze your credit reports at all three agencies. The DOL should give you a fraud case number - keep that handy for everything. It took me about 3 months to get everything cleared up, but eventually they did mark those claims as fraudulent so I wasn't on the hook tax-wise.

After struggling for WEEKS trying to get someone on the phone about my identity theft issue, I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me through to a live agent in about 30 minutes. They called and waited on hold for me, then connected me when an agent answered. Talking to a real person got my fraud case prioritized and they froze the fraudulent activity right away. Here's a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Rdqa1gKtxuE. Seriously, it was the only way I could get this resolved without losing my mind.

I work in cybersecurity and this is happening A LOT lately. There's been a huge surge in unemployment fraud in NY since October. Most likely your SSN and other info were leaked in a data breach (check haveibeenpwned.com to see if your email was in any known breaches). Here's what you absolutely MUST do: 1. Report to police AND FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) 2. Contact Social Security Administration to put a fraud alert on your SSN 3. Freeze ALL credit reports (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion) 4. Change passwords on ALL accounts (email, banking, everything) 5. Set up 2-factor authentication everywhere possible 6. Check your credit reports for any other suspicious activity 7. If you can't get through to unemployment (which is likely), use claimyr.com - it's a service that will wait on hold for you and connect you to an agent. For fraud cases, you really need to talk to a human. Don't panic though - if you report properly, you won't be responsible for the fraudulent claims. The DOL has a whole department dedicated to this now because it's so widespread.

UGH the NY unemployment system is completely broken! I've had THREE friends deal with identity theft through their system in the past year. One of them didn't even know until she got a 1099-G saying she'd received $14,000 in benefits she never applied for! you need to be super proactive about this

its actually really common right now, theres a big scam ring targeting NY unemployment. the tourism fund thing is new tho, thats a clever twist. you should check if any new accounts have been opened in your name too. when they got me they also tried to open credit cards 🤬

This happened to my cousin. He ended up owing taxes on benefits he never received! It took him FOREVER to get it resolved because he could never get through to a human on the phone. The only way he finally resolved it was using claimyr.com to get through to a live agent. Don't wait on this - the longer it goes on, the harder it is to fix.

BRO this EXACT same thing happened to me except with the small business relief fund instead of tourism. Go to identitytheft.gov IMMEDIATELY and file a report. Then call your local FBI field office (not joking). These scams are part of organized crime rings and the FBI is actually investigating them. Also get a credit monitoring service ASAP.

Call the atterney general's office too they have a whole task force for unemployment fraud now. They can put a special flag on your ssn

did you get a letter in the mail about this or just an email? be careful if it was just an email, it might be a phishing attempt to get you to click on something. a lot of scammers send fake unemployment emails to try to get your login info

Don't panic but act fast. Call the fraud hotline at 888-598-2077 and follow up with an email to: nysdol@labor.ny.gov with FRAUD ALERT in the subject line. They are swamped with these cases but will get to you. Also def file a police report because insurance might cover some of your losses if someone stole money using your identity.

lmaooo the NY unemployment system is such a joke. they make it impossible to reach them and then when your identity gets stolen they put the burden on YOU to fix it all. my roommate had her identity stolen through them and she spent 6 weeks calling every day with no success. she finally used some service called claimyr that got her through to a human. apparently it calls for you and connects you when someone answers.

I just went through this exact thing!!! My account was hacked in December and someone filed for benefits using my info. Here's what worked for me: 1) File police report 2) Call unemployment fraud dept (impossible to get through but I used claimyr.com and it worked) 3) Fill out the ID theft affidavit and get it notarized 4) Freeze your credit at all 3 bureaus 5) Contact social security office 6) File complaint with FTC at identitytheft.gov It took about 6 weeks but they cleared everything up and I got a letter saying I wouldn't be responsible for the fake claims. Stay on top of it though because they're dealing with thousands of these cases.

New York unemployment security is a complete joke. My identity was stolen last year and used to claim benefits in THREE different states including NY. I spent months cleaning up the mess. Make sure you document EVERYTHING and follow up constantly.

Don't waste your time trying to call them. Use claimyr.com - you pay a small fee but they'll wait on hold and call you when they get an agent. Trust me, I spent DAYS trying to get through the regular way with no luck. Got through first try with them and had my issue resolved same day. This isn't something you want to wait on.

LOL welcome to the club 🤡 The NY unemployment system is basically an identity theft factory at this point. I got a tax form saying I collected $12,450 that I never saw a penny of. Took 4 months to straighten out but I didn't have to pay taxes on it eventually. Document EVERYTHING and be prepared for a long fight.

Check your email folders carefully. Sometimes these tourism fund emails are actually sophisticated phishing attempts to get you to click on links and enter your unemployment login info. If you clicked anything in that email, change your password immediately and set up 2FA if available.

If you're trying to call the unemployment office and can't get through (which is basically guaranteed), try using claimyr.com - it's this service that calls for you and connects you when a human answers. Without it I would never have gotten my identity theft issue fixed. The NY unemployment phone system is designed to make you give up. When I finally got through, they told me they're seeing TONS of these cases.

i work at a tax prep office and we're seeing SOOO many cases like this right now. like 5-10 clients per week getting 1099-Gs for unemployment they never received. Make sure you dispute this before tax time or you'll be stuck sorting it out with the IRS too which is even more of a nightmare 💀