Greg's Corner

Unemployment scam could send strangers to your door

The current spate of unemployment scams have been going on just as long as the pandemic has been in effect. Overseas scammers have been flooding state unemployment systems with bogus requests for unemployment benefits. In several cases, scammers have applied for benefits using the names of people who are still working. The scammers will often change the addresses used for these benefits so they can intercept them before the victim finds out. However, that may change as more people become aware of the scam.

According to reports out of California, people are receiving unemployment checks at their home addresses for people who don’t live at that address. One report even indicates that one woman received nine checks at her home for four different people that don’t live there.

This could mean that scammers have designated her home as a drop site for their fraudulent unemployment checks. In turn, this could result in a couple of things happening. The scammers may have someone watching her mailbox hoping they can get a hold of the checks before the resident takes them inside. The scammers could also have someone approach the home posing as a state employee looking to ‘take back’ the erroneously issued checks.

The question with this scam always seems to be what do you do if you received a fraudulently issued check. If the check is issued in your name you should contact your state’s unemployment office. While it can be a time-consuming process to reach someone at the state, it will be well worth your while, in the long run, to make sure the state is aware of this issue. This will help you avoid potential tax issues in the future.

If the check is not in your name, some news outlets are stating that you should mark the envelope ‘return to sender’. While this is a good idea, you may want to drop off the envelopes at your local post office rather than leaving them in your mailbox. As we’ve said, scammers have no reservations about going through your mailbox to find what they need. If you take these envelopes to the post office, you’ll be helping to keep the fraudulent checks out of the hands of scammers.