Two of our gin members have received notices from the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) of an employee that has filed for unemployment benefits.   In both cases, the employee was still working for the company and did not actually file the claim.  This week, we received a notice from the TWC that there are a lot of fraudulent claims being filed.  Here is the TWC notice, and it does contain a link to use if you are reporting a fraudulent claim:  

Important Information About Unemployment Insurance Fraud

Texas Workforce Commission sent this bulletin at 03/22/2021 08:52 AM CDT

The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) is seeing an increase in unemployment insurance fraud.

Unemployment insurance fraud creates waste and impacts the employer-supported fund TWC uses to pay unemployment benefits to the claimants who need them.

TWC takes unemployment insurance fraud seriously and works with federal partners and other state unemployment agencies to identify, investigate, prosecute, and prevent it.

If you suspect unemployment insurance fraud, please access the Reporting Fraud webpage.

Bad actors are taking advantage of the availability of stolen personal information on the internet to file fraudulent unemployment insurance claims. Personal information is often stolen through successful phishing schemes or by hackers breaching the databases of organizations; such as banks, online retailers, credit bureaus, and government agencies.

TWC has not experienced any data breaches, and the personal and business information of claimants and employers remains secure.

TWC routinely audits unemployment claims for signs of fraud. If we confirm fraud on a claim, we immediately lock the claim and begin an investigation.

TWC has also partnered with ID.me. ID.me is a federally certified identity provider and specializes in digital identity protection. If a claim appears suspicious, we lock the claim and require the claimant to verify their identity with ID.me.

More information about ID.me is available here.

To learn more about unemployment insurance fraud, please visit the Unemployment Benefits Fraud webpage.

TWC asks all employers to be aware of the threat unemployment insurance fraud poses, remember that employees are usually innocent victims, and take steps to help us discover and investigate unemployment insurance fraud.

If you receive a Notice of Application for Unemployment Benefits for one or more of your current employees or a Notice of Application for Unemployment Benefits for a Social Security number for one or more of your current employees but under a different name and/or address, respond to the notice that the claimant(s) is still working and then access the Reporting Fraud webpage immediately. We will lock the claim(s) and begin an investigation.

If you receive a Notice of Application for Unemployment Benefits for people who never worked for you, respond to the notice that the claimant(s) never worked for you and then access the Reporting Fraud webpage immediately. If one or more of your employees reports that they received material from TWC for an unemployment claim they say they did not initiate, access the Reporting Fraud webpage immediately.

If you have difficulties accessing the Reporting Fraud webpage, please send an email to TWC.fraud@twc.state.tx.us or leave a message at the TWC Fraud Hotline at
800-252-3642.