IN Department of Workforce Development Unemployment Scam Alert

If you've filed for unemployment benefits, the Indiana Department of Workforce Development is encouraging you to take precautions to protect your personal information. Scammers have been working to steal passwords, account numbers and even social security numbers and they can then use that information to gain access to other things like your email or your bank accounts.

Scammers work hard to try to steal your personal information. They will send you emails that look like they are from legitimate companies that you're likely already familiar with. They use these tricks to get you to enter your personal information. The technical term for it is "phishing." According to the Indiana DWD,

The links send the victim to a webpage, which looks like a Microsoft SharePoint website. It further requires the user to sign-in using a Google, Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo! or other user account.

Once you have signed into a personal account, the scammers will obtain your username and password. They will have access to the files you have stored online and your contact lists. They may use this contact list to send the same scam email to your friends and family.

 

They say that the scammers can even use your information to collect your unemployment benefits. The Department of Workforce Development does not require that you use a secondary account in order to sign into the Uplink system to file for unemployment benefits. If you suspect that you may be a victim of unemployment fraud, you can visit the DWD's fraud reporting page and click "Report Unemployment Fraud."