Fraudulent unemployment claims have become more prominent over the past month or so, according to Dennis Butler, Riley County Police Department director.
He says scammers are using social-security numbers and other pieces of personal information to file for unemployment claims under the names of other people.
“The Department of Labor is seeing so many of these that they have a link on their website,” Butler said during an intergovernmental luncheon Monday. “If you get a notice from the Kansas Department of Labor acknowledging your application and you didn’t file, you can go to that link and report that you did not file and that it’s fraud. “
Butler says authorities have also been seeing occurrences of bank-transfer scams.
He says this tends to happen on Fridays or over the weekend because that is when banks are typically closed.
“We have the ability to contact our federal partners and they can in turn contact the treasury because all ACHs are processed through the federal treasury,” Butler said. “We can actually put a stop on that transfer. We may not be able to solve the case, but we can prevent your money from being transferred.”
The Automated Clearing House, also known as the ACH, is a network used by financial institutions for for paperless money transactions.
Those who are experiencing cyber crime are encouraged to contact RCPD as soon as possible.
