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Miami County seeing spike in unemployment fraud

TROY — Miami County is seeing a significant rise in unemployment fraud claims.

The county’s department of job and family services reported an increase in a number of people getting letters in the mail saying they applied for unemployment when they actually didn’t.

It’s something the department said people need to be on the look out for. Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted said that 796,000 of the state’s 1.4 million claims made under the federal pandemic program have been flagged for potential fraud.

“It’s a stressful time for a lot of people just dealing with the pandemic and then when you deal with potential identify theft on top of that it can have a big impact on an individual’s life,” Teresa Brubaker, Director of Miami County Job and Family Services, said.

If this happens to you there are several ways to report it and work to get it resolved.

You can go to JFS.Ohio.gov/fraud and fill out the online complaint form. You can call 1-800-686-1555 and select option 1. You can also fax documents, since the phone call will likely include a wait, to 614-752-4808 and include case name, case address, case number (if available), date on any notices received, notice number or name of the notice and any other important information.

After reporting it you can also report identity theft at unemploymenthelp.ohio.gov/IdentifyTheft.

“It’s frustrating but I think it’s a sign of the times though when you look at technology, everything is electronic, it’s harder to protect folks,” Brubaker said.

This is impacting a lot of people state and county wide. Because of the significant number of cases it will likely take time to resolve.

If you use a paid tax preparer you want to be sure to let them know.

Teresa Alley, an enrolled agent at Alley and Bradl in Piqua, said if this happens to someone they still need to file their taxes as though nothing has happened.

“They don’t need to claim the income on the return this year, they don’t need to wait to file,” Alley said. “The IRS and the Ohio Job and Family Services are aware that this is an issue for a lot of people this year.”

Like Brubaker, Alley knows this is a frustrating time but said it will all work out even if the process and hassle can cause additional aggravation.

“It’s a hard thing to tell people, don’t panic, this is happening to a lot of people, it’s nothing anyone did wrong,” Alley said.

Alley said the form people are receiving is a 1099-G and after reporting the identify theft to unemploymenthelp.ohio.gov/IdentityTheft they can verify the claim and issue a correct 1099-G for your records.

Alley had additional suggestions for anyone dealing with this. Saying the IRS will notify you if their records show that you may be the victim of ID theft. You should go to identitytheft.gov/steps and follow the information.

Both Brubaker and Alley recommended checking your credit. You can do one free check per year but Alley said the website annualcreditreport.com is offering free weekly credit checks through Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion through April 2021.

“If you think there’s an issue beyond the ODJFS it’s a good idea to check that to see if there’s any activity on your account you weren’t expecting to see,” Alley said.

Brubaker added if you have received a Reliacard or other credit card from a bank, do not activate the card, rather call the number on the back of the card to contact the bank and cancel the card account.

James Rider

James Rider

I was born in Virginia and have moved several times in my life as a member of an Air Force family. I've lived in Virginia, California, Germany, England, and Ohio. I graduated from Centerville High School and then went on to attend Ball State University where I graduated with a bachelor's degree.

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