Unemployment Scams and Fraud

Summary

While millions of people are unemployed, seek financial assistance, and look for work as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, threat actors are trying to cash in. These malicious actors are using fraudulent emails, websites, and robocalls to target the unemployed and underemployed in order to steal their identities and intercept their relief payments, including unemployment benefits. Across the US, many states are overwhelmed with fraudulent unemployment applications and claims. The NJCCIC received several reports over the last several weeks detailing unemployment insurance fraud and referencing emails claiming to be related to NJ unemployment with a COVID-19 lure, sense of urgency, and promise of financial assistance. The combination of economic relief opportunities and malicious cyber activity can provide threat actors with the ability to engage in fraudulent behavior that allows them to intercept these benefits via the identification verification process, application filing, or information updates. Threat actors are also targeting the unemployed and job seekers with employment scams. These emails may contain supposed job vacancies to convince the target to respond with personal or financial information, click links to fraudulent employment websites, or open attachments claiming to be resumes or other employment information. The threat actors may impersonate HR recruiters and create a sense of urgency by presenting a soon-to-expire offer that is “too good to be true.” During the ongoing pandemic, there has been a substantial amount of phishing attacks, impersonations, data breaches, access to stolen identities and fraud handbooks via dark web marketplaces, and malware attacks against vulnerable IT systems.

Recommendations

The NJCCIC recommends users and organizations educate themselves and others on these continuing threats and tactics to reduce victimization. Users are advised to avoid clicking links and opening attachments from unknown senders and exercise caution with emails from known senders. If you are unsure of an email’s legitimacy, contact the sender via a separate means of communication – such as by telephone – before taking any action. Navigate to websites directly by manually typing the URL into a browser, instead of clicking on links delivered in emails, to ensure you are visiting the legitimate website. In addition, we advise job seekers to research potential employers and businesses before responding or providing sensitive information. Please review the NJCCIC’s Compromised PII: Facilitating Malicious Targeting and Fraudulent Activity for more information on PII, identity theft, recommendations, and credit freezes. We encourage reporting unemployment fraud if there is suspicion that someone is claiming NJ unemployment benefits illegally. Cyber-related incidents may be reported to the NJCCIC via the Cyber Incident Reporting Form.