Unemployment Fraud Alert

University of Hawaiʻi offices and employees reported receiving fraudulent Unemployment Insurance (UI) or Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims filed in their names.

It is likely that criminals are using personal information exposed in previous national data breaches such as Apollo, Equifax, etc. to file the fraudulent claims. The criminals are most likely combining data from multiple sources to create a “record” for a person and then using that information to file the fraudulent claims.

If you are a victim of either Unemployment Insurance (UI) fraud or Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) fraud:

Employees should report Unemployment Insurance (UI) fraud to the State UI Office using any of the following methods:

  • Calling the UI Office: 808-586-8947
  • Calling the UI Call Center 808-762-5752 (press “4” to report fraud) or 833-901-2272 (toll free)
  • Email dlir.ui.sa@hawaii.gov, put “Fraud Alert” in the subject line, briefly explain what happened, and include your name and phone number.

To report Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) fraud: Go to https://pua.hawaii.gov , select: “Use a Letter ID to Report Identity Theft” under the “Check Application” section and use the Letter ID on the letter you received to file the fraud report.

You should also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at identitytheft.gov per the guidance from the UI Division: https://labor.hawaii.gov/blog/main/unemployment-insurance-assistance-fraud-info/

You should also:

  • REPORT IT TO YOUR HR REP!
  • If you are subscribed to a credit monitoring service, check to see if there are any suspicious activities such as credit cards or loans being opened that you didn’t know about.
  • If you are not subscribed to a credit monitoring service, use the Annual Credit Report service to check your credit reports: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action . This is the only free credit report service authorized by the U.S. Government.

Other things you can do:

  1. Check Bank Statements

    2. Be vigilant and check your credit card and bank statements — It’s highly likely that the criminals already have your SSN.

  2. Create an Account on the Social Security Administration Website

    3. You may want to ensure that you have an account established with the Social Security Administration to prevent anyone else from creating one in your name.

  3. Credit Freeze

    4. It’s recommended to put a “credit freeze” on your credit reports to prevent the criminals from opening loans/credit cards in your name. An important note: a credit freeze will also prevent legitimate access to your credit report such as applying for credit cards, loans, mortgages, etc. You will need to remove the freeze before your credit applications will go through. If that is too restrictive, you can put a fraud alert on your credit reports so that you will be notified when someone is accessing your credit reports. A fraud alert will not stop any credit applications.

    The following article has information about the differences between a fraud alert and credit freeze and how to contact credit bureaus. https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0497-credit-freeze-faqs

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