More Ohioans are being notified that scammers are trying to access their unemployment

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s unemployment system has seen increased activity by criminals attempting to access residents’ online accounts using their stolen personal information, according to a spokesman.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services is still working to find out how many people have been affected and how state officials can best adjust their anti-fraud measures to stop the attempted account hijackings, according to ODJFS spokesman Bill Teets.

But the trend has led to a number of Ohioans unexpectedly getting notifications that there was an attempt to change their personal identification number, or some other account activity that they didn’t do.

Since the coronavirus crisis hit Ohio in March 2020, unprecedented numbers of state residents have filed for unemployment benefits. Scammers were quick to take advantage of the spike in benefits using victims’ personal information — often obtained data breaches that took place years ago — and selling it to other fraudsters. In addition, federal and state officials prioritized paying out benefits as quickly as possible over verifying that recipients were eligible to receive the money.

By far the most prevalent type of unemployment fraud is for scammers to file new claims for benefits in the names of victims without their knowledge, Teets stated in an email. The separate kind of fraud at issue here — in which fraudsters break into genuine accounts and attempt to re-route benefits payments to themselves — is “significantly smaller” but growing, according to Teets.

Teets said it appears that the primary targets have been older accounts not linked to an OH|ID account, a higher-security state account that ODJFS officials required unemployment recipients to create starting last November.

ODJFS has denied that its computer system has been hacked, saying instead that scammers logged into Ohioans’ unemployment accounts using personal information stolen in other ways.

Starting in mid-2021 — after scammers already bilked ODJFS out of more than $460 million in federal and state benefits — state officials set up a series of anti-fraud measures, including notifying claimants about suspicious activity in their accounts.

One Cincinnati resident, who didn’t want to be named, said he recently received an email at about 3:30 a.m. notifying him that someone was trying to change the PIN to his unemployment account. He hadn’t accessed his account for awhile, as he had filed for benefits after being laid off around the start of the pandemic.

The victim said he reported the incident online and called the state’s unemployment fraud hotline in the morning for more than 10 times until someone finally picked up. He also reported the incident to federal officials, who suggested he apply to get a new Social Security number. “It seems like a big hassle to change your social (security number), but it seems like a process that would be worthwhile,” he said.

Anyone who receives a notice about an unexpected change to their unemployment account should go to https://unemploymenthelp.ohio.gov and select the “Report ID Theft” button, Teets stated. People who send such a report can regain access to their accounts by creating an OH|ID account, then call (877) 644-6452 for an agent to connect that OH|ID to their unemployment account.

Ohioans who report ID theft will also be eligible for one free year of credit monitoring, Teets stated.

Residents who have jobless benefits stolen can apply for the state to reimburse them by calling the same number — (877) 644-6452. As of Feb. 11, ODJFS received approximately 636 such requests, approving 252 for a total of $846,469, according to Teets.