Will County Sheriff Warns Of Unemployment Debit Card Scam

WILL COUNTY, IL — The Will County Sheriff's office is warning residents of a scam after receiving more than 30 complaints during the last two weeks regarding unemployment benefit fraud and identity thefts happening throughout the county. According to the sheriff's office, citizens who haven't filed for unemployment benefits are getting fraudulent Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) prepaid debit cards in the mail with instructions to activate the cards.

The Sheriff’s department is urging anyone who's received this card yet didn't file for unemployment benefits to file a police report by calling the non-emergency number or filling an online report, due to the potential of your personal information being compromised.

The sheriff's office also warns residents to not activate the debit card, and added that sheriff's office police investigators are working with IDES investigators on these recent incident reports.

Don't miss updates about precautions in the Manhattan area as they are announced. Sign up for Patch news alerts and newsletters.

According to the IDES, the recently reported fraud incidents are likely due to a prior cyber hack or data breach, such as the Equifax breach. The sheriff's office said according to IDES, it's imperative that you take the following steps if you haven't yet filed an unemployment claim and have erroneously received an unemployment debit card or UI finding letter in the mail:

• Immediately call IDES at 800-814-0513
• When prompted select: The English or Spanish language option
• Select option 1 for claimants; select option 5 to report identity theft
• Or you can go to the IDES website and file a claim
• Have your credit report checked for possible suspicious activity and post a fraud alert.

Again, authorities remind you to not activate the credit card issued to you.