Fraud FAQs for Claimants
Identity theft is a serious crime that occurs when someone else uses your personally identifiable information such as your name, Social Security number, credit card information, driver’s license number, or other identifying information without your consent. Most of the time, this stolen information is used to obtain credit, merchandise, or services in the name of the victim. It can also be used to file for unemployment compensation (UC) benefits.
Claimant UC fraud can include knowingly submitting false information to obtain or increase UC benefits; continuing to collect benefits when knowing oneself to be ineligible; or intentionally not reporting wages or income while collecting full UC benefits. Additionally, identity theft may result in claimant UC fraud that is not the fault of the identity theft victim.
Please visit our Report Fraud page to:
- To report someone who has filed for UC benefits using your personal information such as your name, Social Security Number, and date of birth without your knowledge or consent.
- To report individuals collecting Pennsylvania UC benefits illegally, including persons who are working and not reporting their wages for PA UC benefit purposes; or persons who cannot work due to an illness, disability, or incarceration.
- Call our PA Fraud Hotline at 1-800-692-7469
- If you are a victim of identity theft, please visit the Federal Trade Commission website to learn how to start a recovery plan.
- If you are concerned that your personal information has been stolen and want to protect your identity when filing a federal tax return, you can request an Identity Protection PIN (IP PIN) from the IRS.
- Place a fraud alert on your credit reports and review your credit reports periodically to ensure no new fraudulent activity has occurred.
- Close the accounts that you know or believe have been tampered with or opened fraudulently.
- Request your free credit reports and review them for other fraudulent activities.
An Identity Protection PIN is a six-digit number that prevents someone else from filing a tax return using a taxpayer's Social Security number. The IP PIN is known only to the taxpayer and the IRS, and this step helps the IRS verify the taxpayer's identity when they file their electronic or paper tax return.
Anyone who receives a paper check in the mail and did not file for unemployment benefits in Pennsylvania should not cash the checks. Cashing the checks knowing that you have not applied for any UC program may be deemed fraud and repayment will be required. Individuals should write "void" on the check and return it to:
Pennsylvania Treasury Department
651 Boas Street
Room 400 L&I Building
Harrisburg, PA 17120
Anyone who receives a direct deposit and did not file for unemployment benefits in Pennsylvania should not use the funds. Using the funds knowing that you have not applied for any UC program may be deemed fraud and repayment will be required. The funds should be returned to:
Pennsylvania Treasury Department
651 Boas Street
Room 501 L&I Building
Harrisburg, PA 17120
Payments must be made by personal check, cashier's check, certified check, or money order to the "PA UC Fund". Please include a brief signed statement with the reason you are sending in the payment and include your printed name, address, last four of your social security number, phone number, and email address.
If you receive a debit card (Money Network) by error, do not activate the card. Please return the card by mail to the address below:
Pennsylvania Treasury Department
651 Boas Street
Room 400 L&I Building
Harrisburg, PA 17120
If you are a victim of identity theft that has resulted in someone unlawfully applying for benefits using your information, you will still be able to apply for unemployment benefits if necessary.
Review your method of payment for any unauthorized changes. If your payment method was changed to an account you do not recognize, you must contact PA Treasury at 877-869-1956 to have your method of payment changed back immediately. NOTE: This change will not necessarily be reflected in your profile. You must then contact the UC service center at 888-313-7284. A UC staff member will review your claim for additional unauthorized changes and assist you with creating a new username and temporary password. You will then be instructed to login in a create your unique password. Your information will then be sent to our Internal Audits Division who will work with our Treasury and Benefit Integrity departments to re-issue any benefit payments you are missing as soon as possible.
L&I's anti-fraud division remains committed to preventing, identifying, and blocking scams and is continuing its aggressive efforts to do so, including:
- Cross-matching data with other state agencies and across the country to detect fraud activity.
- Working with the U.S. Department of Labor to prevent and detect fraudulent activities related to UC.
- Implementing upfront identity validation software in the UC claims system. A claimant must now pass the identity check before he or she can proceed with opening a claim or changing his or her bank account information. This step has dramatically reduced a hacker's ability to file a claim under someone else's name.
In general, take these steps to protect yourself against unemployment scams:
Never give out your personal information over email or text messages.
Don’t wire money, and always ignore the following requests:
Communications relating to your UC benefits from someone asking for money;
Someone who says they can help you file for your UC benefits for a fee; and
Anyone claiming to work for L&I who says they need a fee to complete your application.
Don’t open or respond to unsolicited emails or text messages.
Never give out your personal information on websites or social media channels – especially those that claim they can help you apply for UC benefits. Third parties can’t apply for your benefits.
Don’t trust or rely on UC info from unofficial websites – always visit www.uc.pa.gov for Pennsylvania unemployment program information.
L&I may need to call you. If you file a claim, save the PA unemployment phone number to your phone, so you know you’re receiving a legitimate call from L&I:
888-313-7284
We will ask you for some personally identifiable information, including the last four digits of your Social Security number when we call you. Still, we will not ask for your full SSN unless you contact us.
If you are a victim of identity theft, report to L&I, your local police department, and the Federal Trade Commission:
To report someone who has filed for UC benefits using your personal information such as your name, Social Security Number, and date of birth without your knowledge or consent, please visit the UC Benefits Website and click "Report Fraud" to complete and submit the Identity Theft Form. Do not log in.
To report individuals collecting Pennsylvania UC benefits illegally, including persons who are working and not reporting their wages for PA UC benefit purposes; or persons who cannot work due to an illness, disability, or incarceration., please visit the UC Benefits Website and click "Report Fraud" to complete and submit the Unemployment Claims Fraud Form. Do not log in.
Call our PA Fraud Hotline at 1-800-692-7469.
- File a police report with the municipality in which you resided at the time the unemployment benefits in question were paid. A copy of the police report must be provided to the Office of Unemployment Compensation.
- The US Department of Labor is recommending that victims of ID Theft should be reporting their information to the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF). You may also report it to the Federal Trade Commission and start a recovery plan.
- Place a fraud alert on your credit reports and review your credit reports periodically to ensure no new fraudulent activity has occurred.
- Close the accounts that you know or believe have been tampered with or opened fraudulently.
- Request your free credit reports and review them for other fraudulent activities.
Anyone who receives a paper check in the mail and did not file for unemployment benefits in Pennsylvania should not cash the checks. Cashing the checks knowing that you have not applied for PUA or any other UC program may be deemed fraud and repayment will be required. The checks should be returned to:
Pennsylvania Treasury Department
651 Boas Street
Room 400 L&I Building
Harrisburg, PA 17120
Anyone who receives a direct deposit and did not file for unemployment benefits in Pennsylvania should not use the funds. Using the funds knowing that you have not applied for PUA or any other UC program may be deemed fraud and repayment will be required. The funds should be returned to:
Pennsylvania Treasury Department
651 Boas Street
Room 501 L&I Building
Harrisburg, PA 17120
Payments must be made by personal check, cashier's check, certified check, or money order to the "PA UC Fund". Please include a brief signed statement with the reason you are sending in the payment and include your printed name, address, last four of your social security number, phone number, and email address.
It is the Department's goal to prevent any income that you did not receive or file for from being reported under your SSN. We are working diligently to process returned payments, debit cards, checks; return a significant number of fraud calls, and investigate identity theft complaints.
If you were a victim and payments were issued to you, but you returned the UC debit card, checks, , you should NOT receive a 1099-G. However, if you DO receive a 1099-G and believe you shouldn't have because you've returned the funds and submitted an identity theft complaint, we ask for your patience while we work through our increased workload due to the pandemic.
If you were a victim of identity theft but no benefits were paid on the claim, you should NOT receive a 1099-G.
If a claim was opened and paid using your information and you did not receive the funds and therefore were unable to return them to the department, you should visit our Report Fraud page to get started by submiting the Identity Theft Complaint Form. Upon completion of the investigation, if it is found that you were a true victim of identity theft, a revised 1099-G will be issued to you.
For more information on what you should do if you believe you were a victim of identity theft, refer to the "What should I do if I suspect that someone has filed for UC benefits using my personally identifiable information?" FAQ.
Per the IRS, the victim should not wait for a revised 1099-G to file his/her taxes. The victim can move forward with filing their taxes, reporting only their true income and not fraudulent income reported in their name. The victim does not need to complete the additional form normally required by the IRS for reporting identity theft.
Both claimants and employers can commit fraud against the unemployment system. The most common types of claimant fraud include knowingly submitting false information to obtain benefits or increase the amount of those benefits; continuing to collect benefits when knowing oneself to be ineligible; intentionally not reporting wages or income while collecting full benefits; or continuing to collect benefits after returning to work full-time.
The most common types of unemployment tax fraud by employers include paying wages under the table; failing to register as an employer with L&I; failing to report all employees or wages paid; and assisting an employee in filing a fraudulent claim for UC benefits.
Additionally, scammers use personally identifiable information obtained from sources outside L&I to apply for unemployment benefits. To learn more about how to protect your information, or to file a fraud report, visit our Report Fraud page.
The department uses a variety of techniques to uncover fraud, including cross-matching records with the Social Security Administration and the state and federal lists of new hires. L&I also investigates tips from the public.
Penalties may include criminal prosecution with fines; required repayment of fraudulently collected benefits; the offset of federal income tax refunds to collect the debt owed to L&I; or the assessment of penalty weeks against the future receipt of UC benefits.
Fraud FAQs for Employers
L&I's anti-fraud division remains committed to preventing, identifying, and blocking scams and is continuing its aggressive efforts to do so, including:
- Cross-matching data with other state agencies and countries to detect fraud activity.
- Working with our state partners in the Office of the State Treasury, Office of the Auditor General, and Office of the Attorney General, and our federal partners at the U.S. Department of Labor to prevent and detect fraudulent activities related to UC.
- Expanded functionality and business rules in the UC Management System (UCMS) to increase the ability to detect Fictitious Employers earlier and more successfully.
- Implementing upfront identity validation software in the UC claims system. A claimant must now pass the identity check before he or she can proceed with opening an account, opening a claim, or changing his or her bank account information.
- Employers who can access the new UC system can use this guide to help you report fraudulent claims.
- Employers who cannot access the new UC system can use the SIDES E-Response system to report fraudulent claims.
- The links available on the fraud page of L&I's website are intended for individuals to report their stolen identities and other types of fraud to us; these are not intended for employers to report identity theft claims. Employers must follow one of the two guides, above, to accomplish identity theft reporting.
Appealing the financial determination is not the appropriate way to report a fraudulent claim to us, and is inundating our monetary appeals staff. Please do not appeal these determinations; use the above steps to report the fraud to us.
No, cybercriminals share information with each other on the dark web, which is where they receive the personally identifiable information (PII) they use to file claims. In other words, cybercriminals take information they obtained from data breaches external to the Department of Labor & Industry and state government to file unemployment claims across the nation.
Eventually, yes. If payment does begin on a fraudulent claim, the employer will be charged at first. If a payment has already been made on that claim, payments may continue every other week until a staff member is able to flag and eventually deny the claim. After an investigation, if it's determined the victim (SSN owner) received the benefits an overpayment will be established which credits your account. If its determined that the fraudster received the benefits, the payments will be moved to a Third Party Fraud claim (aka Pseudo Claim) which will also credit your account. Ultimately, you will not be charged for benefits paid to fraudulent, identity theft-related claims.
As a reminder, employers should always file a contribution rate appeal whenever they believe that benefit charges have been incorrectly posted to their account. Contribution rate appeals can be filed online through the UCMS employer portal at www.uctax.pa.gov
No, if you do receive paperwork, it does not necessarily mean that payments have or will be made on that claim. Remember that charges will only occur when payments have been made if the person has wages attributable to you in his/her base year. If it is a name and SSN you do not recognize and have not reported on your quarterly wage reports, there would be no charges attributable to you. Regardless, it is important for you to report it to us as soon as possible. In the end, you will not be charged for benefits paid to fraudsters through identity theft. If payments are not stopped upfront, then there will be an overpayment or Third Party Fraud claim set up when the situation is investigated. As always, overpayments credit your account, and you are not charged for benefits that were overpaid or moved to a Third Party Fraud claim.
No, when you respond to the notice of claim filed, the Department does not need any of the person's real employment information for identity theft situations. We are just looking for a response that tells us the claim is fraudulent and should not have been opened. The fields do not need to be completed unless the system requires it (like start & end date, termination date), and when that happens, you can just enter the current date. Do not spend time researching actual hire dates because this is not a real claim.
The one field you should accurately complete is the reason for separation. For identity theft claims, you should enter the reason for separation as "Still working full-time." When the system receives the response, it will create an issue on the claim which will prevent payment if it is not already being prevented by some other reason.