Unemployment scams have become commonplace since the massive increase in unemployment benefits from the stimulus packages passed last year. Scammers are filing unemployment claims with stolen identities against companies the victim never even worked for.
One Blount County business that is permanently closed had one of these fraudulent claims filed on their business. The owner said, “the claimant has never worked for us and we never had any employees. The timing of this claim was suspicious since the claim was made about 2 weeks after the company officially dissolved with the state.” The claim this business received was for the week of 3/12/2021 but apparently took 4 months to process by the department of labor who has been severely understaffed for the number of claims they have had to process during the pandemic.
These scammers may be searching public records and using that information to significantly increase their chances of stealing money from the state. As of April 2021, there were approximately 30,000 fraudulent unemployment claims in Alabama. According to Tara Hutchison, the communications director for the Alabama Department of Labor, they are working with the U.S. Department of Labor, office inspector general, and the FBI.
The state says businesses will not be liable for any payments that are sent to scammers. If you suspect unemployment fraud, or receive one of these fraudulent letters, you can file a report at https://labor.alabama.gov/fraud/