Labor Department advises Idahoans to watch for identity theft

The Idaho Department of Labor is reminding people to be alert for identity theft related to unemployment insurance claims.

Many individuals have had their personal information compromised, hacked or breached by fraudsters in a large-scale nationwide scam involving phony unemployment benefits claims. If someone has applied for benefits using your personal information, it may have been stolen and misused by fraudsters for unemployment benefits. The Labor unemployment insurance system has not been hacked, nor subject to a data breach.

If you are notified by the Labor Department that a claim has been filed under your name when you did not file the claim, disregard the letter or email and do not click on the link in the email.

You can also alert the department by filling out a form located at labor.idaho.gov/ReportIDTheft. The webpage also contains frequently asked questions about identity theft.

The Federal Trade Commission can help you recover from identity theft and has resources and information to protect your identity, including credit bureau contact information found here.

The Labor Department is partnering with ID.me for claimant identity verification. More information can be found here. People who did not file for unemployment insurance benefits should not verify their identity with ID.me.