Fraudulent Unemployment Claims

In recent months, the Department of Human Resources has seen an increased number of fraudulent unemployment claims involving current, active Georgetown University employees. This is part of a national trend and not due to a Georgetown-specific event or data breach.

What to do if you believe that a fraudulent unemployment claim has been filed using your personal information:

Please contact Michael Jackson in the Department of Human Resources at employmentverifications@georgetown.edu. You can also request assistance by submitting an HR help ticket.
Call the District of Columbia’s Department of Employment Services (DOES) Fraudulent Claim Department at 1-877-372-8360 to report the incident.

If you receive a debit card from the District of Columbia for payment for a claim that was filed fraudulently, it is very important that you do not use the funds on that card. Instead, contact the DOES at the number above immediately.

Protecting your personal information

Fraudulent unemployment insurance activity is not the result of a GU data breach. However, to further ensure that your identity is protected, the Federal Trade Commission suggests the following steps:

Report the incident to your employer, DOES and U.S. Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud;
Protect your credit by considering a credit freeze and closely monitoring of your credit score; and
File your taxes. Everyone who receives unemployment benefits should get an IRS Form 1099-G (Certain Government Payments), used for reporting the income on your tax returns. If you get a Form 1099-G but didn’t collect any or all of the benefits listed on the form, visit the IRS website for the IRS’s guidance on identity theft involving unemployment benefits.

You can learn more on their IdenityTheft.gov.

Additionally, if you are interested in purchasing Identity Theft protection, discounted plans through insurers such as LifeLock, AllState and Identity Guard are available through the GUAdvantage discount program.