Cambridge Police See Spike In Identity Fraud Reports

CAMBRIDGE, MA — Since May, Cambridge police have been responding to a steady stream of reports of fraudulent claims. But during the past week, the number of cases related to identity theft shot up.

"In these cases, residents have contacted the police department reporting that they’ve received a notice that a claim for unemployment benefits had been filed with the Massachusetts Office of Unemployment Assistance using their personal information," said Cambridge Police Spokesperson Jeremy Warnick in a statement. "In these cases, the residents had not filed a claim or otherwise sought any assistance from the state. As there has been an increasing number of legitimate unemployment claims as a result of COVID-19, scams involving unemployment assistance have been ongoing during the pandemic."

If you receive such a notification, it is important to note that your social security number and other identifying information may have been compromised.

Fraud related to unemployment has exploded during the past eight months amid coronavirus job losses — so much that the FBI during the summer issued a bulletin warning about the scam.

If you learn you have been a victim of fraud, the law enforcement is asking that you fill out a form online so the Department of Unemployment Assistance's Program Integrity Unit can set to work to help, first by freezing the account associated with the report. You can also file a report with Cambridge Police by calling (617) 349-3300.

If any payments were made, they will not be recognized as income to you at the end of the calendar year, according to the FBI. They'll work to ensure the claim will not impact your ability to collect unemployment should you need to in the future and no charges will be assessed to your employer.

Some tips from the Cambridge Police Department if you suspect your identity has been stolen:

1. File a police report. Get a copy of the report that you can provide to creditors and credit agencies.
2. Change passwords on your email, banking, and other personal accounts
3. Make a list of credit card companies, banks, and other financial institutions where you do business. Tell them you are a victim of identity theft and ask them to put a fraud alert on your account.
4. Get a copy of your credit report and dispute any fraudulent transactions. You can request credit reports online from the 3 major credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, and Transunion) or by calling (877) 322-8228.
5. Place a credit freeze with each of the 3 major credit reporting agencies. Call each of the credit reporting agencies at these phone numbers or visit their websites to freeze your credit.
1. Equifax: 800-349-9960 or freeze your credit online
2. Experian: 888‑397‑3742 or freeze your credit online
3. TransUnion: 888-909-8872 or freeze your credit online
6. Place a fraud alert on your credit file. You can do this by contacting just 1 of the credit agencies to add an alert with all 3 agencies.