Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office says the past year has brought a “variety of complaints” from people who think their personal identifying information has been used to carry out attempted unemployment benefits fraud.
“These schemes appear to be multi-faceted, making them difficult for the Department of Labor to trace and to shut down,” Marshall’s office said Thursday.
A new one involves text messages that direct Alabamians to report suspected unemployment benefits fraud on a fake Department of Labor website. The fake site ends in .com instead of .gov.
“Citizens should be advised that the Alabama Department of Labor will not communicate with you via text message,” Marshall’s office said. “Any text message purporting to be from the Department of Labor is a phishing scam.”
The Department of Labor reiterated what it told Business Alabama last week. There are multiple unemployment scams being perpetrated around the country, and Alabamians should protect their personal information and report unemployment fraud.
If fraudulent activity is suspected, report it to the ADOL website at www.labor.alabama.gov.
