Why would NYS Department of Labor call you during unemployment claim process?

NYS Department of Labor does make outbound calls for several legitimate reasons: identity verification during claim processing, adjudication interviews when there are questions about your eligibility, overpayment investigations, or fraud prevention. However, scammers also target people using fake unemployment calls. If you're not currently claiming benefits, I'd be very suspicious. You can always call the official NYS Department of Labor number back to verify.

Yeah they called me during my adjudication period last month because my previous employer contested my claim. The interview was to get my side of the story about why I left the job. But they also sent me a letter first explaining they would be calling.

I've been dealing with the unemployment system for months and honestly getting through to them by phone is nearly impossible most days. That's why I ended up using Claimyr (claimyr.com) - it's a service that helps you get connected to actual NYS Department of Labor agents without sitting on hold forever. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Might be worth checking out if you need to verify whether that call was legitimate.

SCAM SCAM SCAM! I got the same call last week and when I called back the number went to some sketchy voicemail. NYS Department of Labor is so backed up they can barely answer legitimate calls, why would they be calling random people??

They might call for overpayment issues too, even from old claims. Sometimes they discover discrepancies years later during audits. But definitely verify through official channels first before giving out any personal information over the phone.

yeah this happened to my cousin but it was real, turned out his old employer reported something wrong about his work dates and they needed to fix his records

I work as a customer service rep and deal with unemployment fraud calls daily - this sounds like a classic scam attempt. Real DOL calls usually come after you've filed a claim or they've sent written notice first. Since you're employed and haven't filed recently, I'd bet money this is fraudulent. Scammers often use spoofed local numbers to seem legit. Don't call the number back from the voicemail - instead, log into your NY.gov account or call the official DOL number directly to check if there's any actual issue with your account.