Employees Advised to Watch for Unemployment Fraud and Phone Scams

UW–Madison has become aware of several attempts to obtain employee information through phone scams, as well as fraudulent claims for unemployment benefits using stolen employee information. In a phone scam, someone claiming to be from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) calls and asks for the employee’s Social Security number. The DWD will never contact claimants by phone to request personal or financial information.

In a fraud attempt, someone applies for unemployment benefits using stolen employee information. If you learn that someone is using your identity to collect unemployment benefits, report this immediately to the DWD at dwd.wisconsin.gov/ui/fraud/report.htm or call the Fraud Hotline at 800-909-9472. You should also file a police report for identity theft.

UW–Madison is tracking unemployment phone scams and fraud attempts. If you experience any of these problems, please send an email to unemploymentbenefits@ohr.wisc.edu or speak with your human resources representative. For language assistance, call Cultural Linguistic Services at 608-265-2257.

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