Someone filed for NY unemployment using my identity - what do I do now?

This happened to me too back in February! I still have a full time job but someone was claiming benefits in my name for like 6 weeks before I found out. It took me FOREVER to get it resolved. You need to keep calling the fraud department every single day until they fix it. I also froze my credit reports at all three bureaus just to be safe.

I was in the same situation last summer and couldn't get through to anyone on the phone for weeks. It was driving me CRAZY. Eventually I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to a live agent. Best money I ever spent to get this mess fixed! They held on the line and then called me once they got a real person. Saved me hours of frustration and I finally got to talk to someone who helped me clear my name. Here's a video explaining how it works: https://youtu.be/Rdqa1gKtxuE

Dealing with this right now too 😭 Had to file a bunch of paperwork and notify IRS, make a police report, and contact all the credit bureaus to put fraud alerts. I've called the unemployment office like 7 times already and keep getting disconnected. This system is such garbage.

Here's what you need to do to handle identity theft with NY unemployment (I work in HR and have helped several employees through this process): 1. File a police report immediately - which you already did, good! 2. Contact the NY Department of Labor fraud hotline at 888-598-2077 and follow up with an email to their fraud unit 3. Place a fraud alert with all three credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion) 4. File a complaint with the FTC at identitytheft.gov 5. Notify your employer and make sure they contest any claims made in your name 6. Document EVERYTHING - keep copies of all letters, emails and note dates/times of phone calls 7. If you're struggling to reach someone at unemployment (which is common), try using claimyr.com - they'll wait on hold and connect you with a live agent when one is available This is unfortunately becoming extremely common. The unemployment system was completely overwhelmed and fraudsters took advantage. Stay persistent and don't give up until it's resolved!

OMG this is SUPER common. My sister, two coworkers and me all had fraudulent claims filed last year. Seems like there was a massive data breach somewhere. Took about 4 months to get it all straightened out with unemployment. Make sure to check your credit report regularly too.

The same exact thing happened to me! I found out when my job got a notice abt my "unemployment claim" even tho I was literally AT WORK that day 🤦‍♂️ Took 5 months to get it sorted and I'm still dealing with the aftermath. The whole ny unemployment system is a joke.

Make sure you call the IRS directly too! If someone filed for benefits in your name, they probably have your SSN and could try to file a fake tax return too. IRS has a specific identity theft department.

I'm so tired of this happening to everyone I know! The unemployment office needs to get their act together. I had to help my mom deal with this last year and we spent HOURS on the phone. We eventually used claimyr.com to get through to someone and finally got it fixed.

hot take: the entire ny unemployment system is deliberately broken to prevent people from getting benefits. even legit claims take forever, so fraud victims get totally screwed. i've been dealing with identity theft for 6 months now with zero resolution.

you might wanna check haveibeenpwned.com to see which data breach exposed your info. won't help fix the current problem but might help you figure out where your data was leaked from.

After my identity was stolen I started using LifeLock and haven't had any issues since. It's worth the subscription fee for peace of mind.

What's crazy is that the unemployment office should be proactively doing somthing about this. Why do WE have to waste hours of our lives fixing THEIR security problems? The whole system is a joke.

Check your mail carefully too - the scammers sometimes try to intercept the benefits debit card if they managed to get your address wrong in the system. My neighbor had this happen.

My friend in the exact same situation used some service called Claimyr to get through to unemployment. Said it was the only way he could talk to a human after weeks of trying. Could be worth checking out - claimyr.com I think

Don't just report the identity theft to unemployment - make sure you contact your local FBI office too. They're tracking these cases because a lot of them are tied to organized crime rings.

i literally spent 3 weeks calling every day, multiple times a day, and could never get through to a human to fix my identity theft case. ended up having to contact my state representative who finally got someone to call me back. try that if all else fails.