Fraud Alert: Phishing Schemes
The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) continues to monitor new phishing schemes targeting individuals. Bad actors posing as IDES representatives are trying to trick individuals into disclosing their personal information through text, email, and social media messages.
It is critical for claimants and the public to remain vigilant to detect fraudulent correspondence:
• Follow steps from the FTC to recognize and avoid phishing scams. The examples below include tell-tale signs of a phishing scam, such as referring to the “Division of Employment Security” as opposed to the “Department of Employment Security” and
directing to untrustworthy websites.
• Strengthen and protect account information. Individuals collected unemployment insurance should maintain a strong password that is unique to their IDES login, and never share their personal information with an untrustworthy source. For example, information regarding an individual’s IDES account should never be shared on social media.
Additional tips are available on IDES’s fraud webpage.
Additional Resources
• IDES: Fraud and Identity Theft Resources
• Federal Trade Commission: How to Recognize and Avoid Phishing Scams
• US Department of Justice: Press Release on Unemployment Schemes
• USDOL Office of the Inspector General: Unemployment Insurance Phishing Fraud Alert