{"id":1659,"date":"2020-05-20T10:10:42","date_gmt":"2020-05-20T18:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sdc.wastateleg.org\/dhingra\/?p=1659"},"modified":"2020-09-17T00:09:58","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T00:09:58","slug":"e-news-be-on-alert-for-fraudulent-unemployment-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/2020\/05\/20\/e-news-be-on-alert-for-fraudulent-unemployment-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"E-news: Be on alert for fraudulent unemployment claims"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Neighbor,<\/p>\n<p>During the pandemic, it&#8217;s important to be on alert\u2014this crisis has led to a rash of fraudulent unemployment claims filed with the WA Employment Security Department.<\/p>\n<p>Fraudsters file these claims in innocent people&#8217;s names using data they have stolen from corporate data breaches, not from the Employment Security Department. ESD paused payments for two days last week to combat this fraud.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s what you can do to protect yourself:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Be aware of false websites. If you apply for unemployment benefits, use only ESD\u2019s official website: <a href=\"https:\/\/esd.wa.gov\/\">esd.wa.gov<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Applying for unemployment benefits is free. ESD will never ask for a payment to process your claim.<\/li>\n<li>Be wary of solicitors asking for your personal information online or by phone. ESD will only ask you for information through official correspondence and through your ESD eServices account. If we call you, you can ask the agents to identify themselves.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you get a letter from ESD referencing an unemployment claim number, but you did not file a claim,<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Report the fraud\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.esd.wa.gov\/fraud\">here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>You can also try calling 800-246-9763.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you suspect you have been a victim of identity theft:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>File a report with your local law enforcement.<\/li>\n<li>Report the fraud to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/ident%E2%80%A6\/employment-related-identity-theft\">IRS<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Use the resources at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.identitytheft.gov\/\">IdentityTheft.gov<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Request free credit reports via\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.annualcreditreport.com\">AnnualCreditReport.com<\/a>\u00a0and review them for other frauds.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.esd.wa.gov\/fraud\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1660 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/dev2.sdc.wastateleg.org\/dhingra\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2020\/05\/97727225_1938843509573457_6776527725214564352_o-300x225.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2020\/05\/97727225_1938843509573457_6776527725214564352_o-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2020\/05\/97727225_1938843509573457_6776527725214564352_o-1024x768.png 1024w, https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2020\/05\/97727225_1938843509573457_6776527725214564352_o-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2020\/05\/97727225_1938843509573457_6776527725214564352_o-1536x1152.png 1536w, https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2020\/05\/97727225_1938843509573457_6776527725214564352_o.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Stay safe and take care.<\/p>\n<p>Sincerely yours,<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1385\" src=\"https:\/\/dev2.sdc.wastateleg.org\/dhingra\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2020\/01\/Dhingra-sig-purple-300x57.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"57\" srcset=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2020\/01\/Dhingra-sig-purple-300x57.jpg 300w, https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2020\/01\/Dhingra-sig-purple-1024x195.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2020\/01\/Dhingra-sig-purple-768x146.jpg 768w, https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2020\/01\/Dhingra-sig-purple.jpg 1083w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Neighbor, During the pandemic, it&#8217;s important to be on alert\u2014this crisis has led to a rash of fraudulent unemployment claims filed with the WA Employment Security Department. Fraudsters file these claims in innocent people&#8217;s names using data they have stolen from corporate data breaches, not from the Employment Security Department. ESD paused payments for two days last week to combat this fraud. Here&#8217;s what you can do to protect yourself: Be aware of false websites. If you apply for unemployment benefits, use only ESD\u2019s official website: esd.wa.gov. Applying for unemployment benefits is free. ESD will never ask for a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":1155,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>E-news: Be on alert for fraudulent unemployment claims - Sen. Manka Dhingra<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/2020\/05\/20\/e-news-be-on-alert-for-fraudulent-unemployment-claims\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"E-news: Be on alert for fraudulent unemployment claims - Sen. Manka Dhingra\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dear Neighbor, During the pandemic, it&#8217;s important to be on alert\u2014this crisis has led to a rash of fraudulent unemployment claims filed with the WA Employment Security Department. Fraudsters file these claims in innocent people&#8217;s names using data they have stolen from corporate data breaches, not from the Employment Security Department. ESD paused payments for two days last week to combat this fraud. Here&#8217;s what you can do to protect yourself: Be aware of false websites. If you apply for unemployment benefits, use only ESD\u2019s official website: esd.wa.gov. Applying for unemployment benefits is free. ESD will never ask for a...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/2020\/05\/20\/e-news-be-on-alert-for-fraudulent-unemployment-claims\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sen. 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