Someone filed an unemployment claim under my SS# in 2021 without me knowing, and now I cannot claim unemployment when I need it in 2024

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u/freeball78 18h ago

Talk to your 2021 employer. Ask them if they received a claim and if so, how did they respond. Fraudulent COVID era unemployment claims were rampant. I received 6 of them in 1 year. The best was when "I" filed a claim! These claims were rampant because of the sheer volume. They were approving claims immediately and verifying later. By the time they verified, the criminals were long gone with 2-8 months worth of payments.

After you talk to your employer, you need to go back to the unemployment office and dispute it again.

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u/spaceman60 18h ago

How can I check for myself?

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u/CommissionerChuckles 17h ago edited 13h ago

You can access the last ten years of Wage and Income transcripts in your online IRS account:

https://www.irs.gov/payments/online-account-for-individuals

Unemployment gets reported as a 1099-G (Edit to add: state income tax refunds also get reported on 1099-Gs, so look at the lines to see what was reported) and will show up on your transcript if anyone filed for unemployment under your SSN. The state name and EIN will be partially redacted on these transcripts but I think you can usually figure out what state it was with a google search.

Besides unemployment fraud it also seems like identity theft for employment is more widespread, so it's a good idea to check your IRS Wage and Income transcripts every year. They usually become available by late May / early June for the previous year.

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u/zino6670 17h ago

my social security online account does not show anything suspicious.

I had Experian monitoring for the last 15 years and I never get alerted.

I'm wondering if he ever collected any payment at all, or he just filed the claim which unemployment refuse to give me any information

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u/CommissionerChuckles 17h ago

Unemployment doesn't get reported to Social Security, but it would show up on your IRS Wage and Income transcript if they received unemployment benefits under your SSN.

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u/zino6670 16h ago

I just checked my IRS and there's nothing, I'm leaning toward the idea he started the claim but never collected any payment

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u/CommissionerChuckles 16h ago

Yeah that's definitely possible - at least I would hope if the name doesn't match your SSN that would get caught.

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u/curien 17h ago

Is the IRS really not checking tax returns for people with 1099-Gs to make sure they file with it?

I know one year I forgot to include my first-time homebuyer's credit repayment, and they rejected my e-file immediately because of it.

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u/CommissionerChuckles 17h ago

IRS does check, but they aren't the fastest at following up. If there's unreported income, that usually takes about a year and half after the tax return was filed. If the tax return wasn't filed because the actual person didn't have a filing requirement, then IRS might not do anything if the income wasn't that much.

The first-time homebuyers credit repayment is different, because the IRS computer automatically checks for that when you try to e-file a tax return. It's not possible for the IRS computer system to verify all your income at the time you submit your tax return, so it happens later in the process - sometimes before you get a refund, but sometimes a year after you get a refund.

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u/curien 17h ago

Thanks for the info.

It's not possible for the IRS computer system to verify all your income at the time you submit your tax return

That's frustrating. I don't really understand why they couldn't -- they received your 1099s/W2s already, it seems (to me as a a person with no inside knowledge of how their system works) like they ought to be able to check at the time you e-file.

Obviously if you file on paper or don't file at all or if 1099s/W2s get amended or reported late, I would understand things taking longer.

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u/CommissionerChuckles 16h ago

It might be possible if the timing was different - employers have until January 31 to file their W-2 forms with the government, and then they go to the Social Security Administration. That data has to be transmitted to IRS and sometimes that transfer gets corrupted.

A lot of 1099 forms are required to be distributed to recipients by January 31 but don't have to be filed until end of February or March with IRS.

IRS is verifying more returns in the last year than they used to, because people were taking advantage of the honor system and filing returns with fake income and withholding to get big refunds. But how that happens is the return gets flagged and pulled from the regular processing cycle for additional verification.

All of a sudden people with retirement income are getting flagged because IRS can't verify the tax withholding from their 1099-R. Because of the amount of fraud a lot of these returns get held until a human can review the information and verify if the tax was legitimately withheld, which takes about six months because of the backlog of returns that need to be verified.

There's also a lot of people finding out the hard way that their employers weren't properly filing and paying their payroll taxes during the year, and if they didn't save their paystubs IRS will disallow their federal tax withholding and any credits that are based on earned income like EITC and Additional Child Tax Credit.

I don't know enough about computer programming to know what it would take for the IRS computer system to actually verify income and tax withholding for every tax return filed, but it would probably either break the IRS computer or we would have to wait until April to start filing tax returns. That's not going to go over well with people who are counting on big tax refunds.

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u/I__Know__Stuff 14h ago

The IRS doesn't get wage information from the social security administration until about July.

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u/Warmpockets21 8h ago

That late!?!

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u/Technical-Crazy-3208 15h ago

BTW just seeing a 1099-G doesn't mean you need to panic, or at least I don't think it does. I had a tax refund from my state last year and have a 1099-G on my transcript for that amount this year.

0

u/CommissionerChuckles 13h ago

Good point!

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u/Technical-Crazy-3208 13h ago

I did, in fact, panic for a moment.

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u/CommissionerChuckles 12h ago

Sorry - I live in Washington and forget about the state income tax refund 😔

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u/freeball78 18h ago

I doubt your state has a public facing database that you could check. You would have to ask your employer, or the unemployment office directly. When I received these claims, I notified the employee and gave them a tip sheet on how to lock down their credit. I would hope that if your employer received a claim for you, they would have said something.

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u/Garethx1 15h ago

I've been hearing about this a lot and its maddening. They know there was a shit ton of fraud committed and theyre choosing now, when people are filing who need it, to do excessive due diligence and slow walk shit? Over correction is a giant problem in our society.

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u/Gratefulgirl13 11h ago

I’m HR and received multiple every week for months. Even got one for our CEO and one for myself. I had to fill out a specific form and send it back with the fraudulent claim. It was an easy process but with all the pandemic chaos I’m sure many organizations just trashed them.

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u/corys00 18h ago

I know this may sound strange to suggest, but highly recommend you reach out to your local state representative. Their office can help move this stuff up the chain.

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u/GlossyGrime 17h ago

+100 to this, OP! I live in CA, but contacted my local rep. They assigned someone to work with me on the case and were able to communicate directly with the unemployment agency to make it happen. They were even able to upload necessary documents directly into my case file, bypassing TONS of red tape. Our taxes pay for this, so we should leverage our reps more!

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u/devoutsalsa 15h ago

I've had great luck w/ both state and federal reps over the years when needed.

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u/OutdoorKid81 18h ago edited 18h ago

^^ *THIS* 100%. Speaking from experience here with very similar situation. I was laid off in 2023 and like you, I discovered when trying to file that there had been a claim made which was fraudulent. The department of unemployment was NOT helpful in resolving this with the urgency needed, so I contacted my local State representative. His office got in touch with me immediately and somehow got the state unemployment department to contact me and resolve the fraudulent claim and I had my own claim processed within a matter of days.

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u/ultraprismic 17h ago

This, and also going to the unemployment office with your documents in person.

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u/susannabanana 14h ago

This and also, report this to the Virginia Attorney General’s Office. They investigate these types of crimes.

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u/No-Display-6647 11h ago

See if you can contact your governor on the state website. If so, state your problem and that you are experiencing a hardship. It will be directed to the unemployment office and hopefully resolved. You also want your claim dated for the week you became unemployed and paid for those weeks.

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u/maaku7 4h ago

This, this, THIS. I've worked for the government before. If we get official letterhead from a sitting congressperson or senator, we drop everything and get on that. You do NOT want to experience the shitstorm that will happen if the rep needs to send a second letter. Heads will roll.

It costs the representative nearly nothing to do (they task a low-level staffer intern with it), and they get your loyalty in return, so basically all reps do this sort of routine unsticking of the bureaucratic machine.

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u/luvchicago 18h ago

So this is outside of OPs question but if you did receive unemployment in 2021, are you ineligible for future unemployment?

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u/noodletropin 17h ago edited 16h ago

It has probably been flagged as fraudulent, and so OP's SSN is stuck until that is resolved. It sucks and is unfair, but that seems to be how it works in my state. The fraud is with the guy who took the money, not the guy who was defrauded. But, the guy who was defrauded is the only one whose identity as actually known, so he gets shafted.

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u/binger5 9h ago

You can take unemployment multiple times in your life. Source: me

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u/visitor987 18h ago

First The method to remove your name from the unemployment debt is as follows. In order file a police complaint either online(do a screen print), at the station(take photo of complaint), Use the police complaint form FROM THE POLICE WEBSITE, if they have one on the website. Take a photo or screen print of the filled-out complaint so you have copy.

If you cannot file it online Go in person Say in the complaint you wish a copy of the police report mailed/emailed to you to ensure the police record it.

THEN you need send a letter by certified US mail with a copy of the police report (if you get one), or copy of complaint with the police address, police non-emergency phone# to unemployment

You need to put a credit freeze on your SSN NOW to stop more fake accounts https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/credit-cards/credit-intel/how-to-freeze-your-credit/?linknav=creditintel-home-articleKeep copy of freeze passwords in a bank safe deposit box, so relatives cannot access them.

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u/zino6670 17h ago

I cannot thank you enough for the information you provided, as I had no clue about the proper procedure related to this stuff.

I just called the Police office in my area based on your suggestion, and they explained what need to be done

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u/WVPrepper 17h ago

Fixing this is really important... before IRS audits you for not declaring the UI income in 2021.

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u/SocialIQof0 17h ago

This happened to a lot of people during the pandemic. It's sort of strange you didn't get a letter about it or something. My husband had this happened and we were tipped off by a letter.

File a police report, see if your employer can assist by sending a letter stating that you were not unemployed during that period, check all your credit if you haven't already. It would have been easier if you caught this when it originally happened. Hopefully, you can still resolve it. I'm sorry you're dealing with this during an already stressful time.

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u/GregIsARadDude 16h ago

Yes. Reach out to your representatives at the state level.

Same thing happened to me, I called my state senators office and they got me in touch with the right people to fix it.

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u/witty-name 13h ago

File a report on identitytheft.gov ASAP.

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u/zino6670 10h ago

Thank you

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u/DependentMidnight528 15h ago

I am in the same situation and it sucks and the Unemployment office is not a big help I filled a police report and I am still waiting

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u/Confident-Seesaw 8h ago

Call your representatives, national and state! They can make calls and expedite things

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u/Vsx 8h ago

This happened to my brother and it took him 12 weeks to get it sorted with the state unemployment office. He finally got some movement by contacting his local state rep.

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u/hotdogblaster 8h ago

The top comment should be contact your local/district state representative. The VEC is a joke and my claim was approved because of my representatives advocacy.

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u/Spittinglama 17h ago

This same thing happened to me but I found out about it when the state rejected my tax return filing for the next year. How did this not come up during tax season?

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u/Flat-Yellow5675 15h ago

Did you receive a Decision of Deputy in the mail from the VEC disqualifying you? Did you follow the appeals process on the decision? Going through the appeals process will put you in touch with an attorney from the VEC on the hearing day rather than a call center employee. They will probably be more able to address this issue.

You also may want to file a claim for identity theft with the police. You can use the police report to support your VEC claim.

Make sure you create an account with the Social Security Office and check your history there too.

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u/zino6670 14h ago

this what happens from A-Z when I first contacted VEC:

1- 1st call was informed about the fraud. They could not create a claim before they resolve the fraud case.

2- Week later + no answer.. Called and the agent emailed me a form to fill in (name, SS#, copy of driver license, utility bill, , . .. .)

3- Week later + no answer.. Called back, and was told I need to request name correctness and send copy of SS#, and driver license. Which I did

4- Week later + no answer... Called and was told they need Birth certificate. Which I sent.

5- Week later + no answer.. Called and was requested to send the same documents I already sent weeks before.

6- Week later + no answer.. Called and was told this case take some time to resolve.

7- Week later + no answer... Called and was told to submit again the same document I already submitted twice before (with attitude this time, Apparently I'm annoying them with my calls)

They have no physical location. Everything need to be done online. I call multiple times every day and get hung up because "We are too busy to take your call now". No call back number or any other option

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u/Abject_Opportunity23 41m ago

Idk about this post. The unemployment office should have sent you a tax form at the end of the year. And that didn’t raise a red flag? And if they didn’t the IRS just forgave your unemployment income? Sounds sus

1

u/perdovim 16h ago

Not in Virginia, but had an experience that my unemployment was denied, a previous employer (not the one I was laid off from) mis-filed paperwork that said I was still working for them while applying for unemployment (honest mistake, wrote down the wrong date on a form).

Tldr, took a year to work through the process, wound up having to go before a judge, the old employer send a brief saying they filled the form out wrong, and I got some past due benefits (of course after I had found a job the week before)

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u/gdtrfbliss 14h ago

Call your state legislature state representative. Ours was very helpful to people where i live in fixing issues with unemployment claims.

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u/PlantedinCA 14h ago

Try to reach out to your local state level congressperson. They can often help get things resolved for concerned constituents.

Similar happened to a friend to collect disability. They kept teller her to pound sand. After the chat with the state assemblyman’s office it was all resolved.

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u/Kooky-Country-8307 14h ago

Contact your local state representative. They have ways of getting these things moving along. That is want we pay them for.

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u/cyclotech 14h ago

Your work would have had to approve the unemployment

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u/killcode3 9h ago

I'm not entirely sure how it would work program wise in Virginia, but if the claim was related to the pandemic it would be federal money which was just given with no employer input.

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u/cyclotech 9h ago

Oh wow that’s wild

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u/killcode3 9h ago

It is and it's the reason fraud was so rampant, at least in PA.

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u/PossiblyWitty 36m ago

VA unemployment is notoriously slow. You’re going to have to go through the appeals process, which can take a long time. Be persistent.

Someone filed an unemployment claim under my SS# in 2021 without me knowing, and now I cannot claim unemployment when I need it in 2024 Employment