June 10, 2020
Kansas Department of Labor receives reports of unemployment insurance fraud
Submitted by Communications and Marketing
The Kansas Information Security Office released a memo June 5 (PDF) with information regarding multiple reports of unemployment insurance fraud.
The Kansas Department of Labor has received multiple reports from employees associated with all levels of government — health care, education, higher education, and first responders — indicating that they received a notice of filing an unemployment claim when they had not. In many cases, employees in these areas have not suffered from furloughs or layoffs. Malicious actors are exploiting these individuals’ information because they know that they are less likely to collide with legitimate unemployment claims by filing against people in these sectors.
If an employee who has not been furloughed receives notice that an unemployment claim has been filed in their name, their identity has likely been stolen at some point in time. The affected staff should report the identity theft to KDOL and take additional steps to help protect their identity such as credit monitoring or identity theft protection services.
Report unemployment fraud to KDOL by emailing ronda.kirk@ks.gov or Nicholas.beech@ks.gov. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Jeff Maxon at jeff.maxon@ks.gov.