Marcia Pratt has been retired for the past three years. So when she got mail from the Department of Labor about unemployment benefits, she knew something was up.
"One of the envelopes contained a debit card, which immediately concerned me," she said.
Pratt said she received a total of five letters in the mail in from the DOL in the beginning of January, each saying the department needed follow-up information from her about the benefits.
But Pratt never filed a claim. The claim was fraudulent.
"They have my name, my social security number which was correct, the employer reference was incorrect I had never worked for them. And it's been maybe 50 years since I filed a claim for unemployment," she said.
Pratt said she filed a report online, and has tried calling the DOL to make sure everything went through so that she would not t be held accountable.
"You know I'm not entitled to it, like I said I've been retired for three years - over three years. I just don't want to mess anything up and I don't want something out there in my name, that I might be at some point required to pay back when it wasn't me," said Pratt.
Luckily it appears the DOL saw something wasn't quite right, and sent this letter to Pratt with information on what do to protect her identity.
One thing she said she has done since this all began was sign up for fraud alerts.
The DOL said you can place a fraud alert on your accounts with the three credit bureaus Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax - and it's free.
The DOL tells us its fraud portal is the best and quickest way for New Yorkers to report fraud, and they continue to work with local and federal law enforcement, other states, and the Secret Service to fight unemployment insurance fraud.
Pratt said since the second week January, she hasn't received any additional mail from the department of labor, and sees no other indication of fraud on her credit reports.
