Nine Westfield Residents Report Identity Theft Over 4 Days

WESTFIELD, NJ — A growing number of local residents are reporting that people are making fraudulent unemployment claims in their names, according to recent Westfield police reports.

In their rundown of reports for the first two weeks in June, the police listed nine cases reported to them from June 14 through June 18.

Police said that residents of Hillcrest Avenue, Tice Place, Seneca Place, Massachusetts Street, Baker Avenue, St. Marks Avenue, Archbold Place, Hardwick Avenue, and Harding Street reported these cases of fraud and identity theft in which they received evidence that someone applied for unemployment in their name.

"Residents of the above addresses reported they were victims of identity theft," police wrote. "Specifically, that an unknown actor(s) used their identity to make a fraudulent claim of unemployment in their name to the New Jersey Department of Labor. The victims reported no other suspicious activity. The victims suffered no monetary loss."

The attempted fraud is going on across the country. According to a report in Patch last month, "These UI fraud schemes are widespread and affect most states. The United States Secret Service is investigating more than 500 claims in over 40 states related to unemployment fraud." READ MORE: Unemployment Insurance Fraud And Social Security

Locally, such cases have been reported from Nutley to Glen Rock to Lacey.

Just this month, California awarded a $1.25 million contract to investigators to handle investigations and prosecutions involving unemployment fraud.

A state official said in December that the state has stopped tens of thousands of fraudulent claims.

Previous cases were reported to Westfield police last month as well.

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