The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) issued a fraud alert to warn citizens of reports that individuals are being targeted across the country with scam e-mails and telephone calls seeking to gain access to their personal identifiable information (PII) for unemployment insurance.
The fake e-mails and telephone calls give the appearance of coming from the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) or the VEC, and ask customers to click on links in the e-mail or to press a button to talk with a representative to answer questions on the phone.
The VEC will never ask for all nine digits of a social security number to identify a claimant.
The agency encourages anyone who has received a fraudulent call and has given any personal information to a potential fraudster to report the potential identity theft to the Federal Trade Commission at https://www.identitytheft.gov/?utm_source=takeaction.
The VEC also suggests filing a police report with your local police department.
Customers are reminded to protect their person information and to never share your password.
For more information on this scam, visit vec.virginia.gov.
