Report Fraud

For Individuals

You should submit a Report Unemployment Fraud form if:

• You received a suspicious text message or email about your unemployment claim
• You or someone else in your household has received a ReliaCard debit card or other correspondence but have not filed an unemployment claim
• Your household has received a ReliaCard or other correspondence at your address but in the name of someone who does not live in your household
• You believe your unemployment account/claim has been compromised
• You know of someone collecting unemployment benefits while working

After reporting fraud, we recommend taking the following additional steps:

• If you received a U.S. Bank ReliaCard debit card that you did not request, deactivate the card by following the instructions on the U.S. Bank ReliaCard page.
• Contact the three consumer credit bureaus and put a fraud alert on your name and Social Security number (SSN).
  • Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
  • Experian: 1-888-397-3742
  • TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289
• Create a file where you can keep any records related to the fraud or identity theft in one place.

FAQs for Individuals

What should I do if my identity was used to file a fraudulent claim? (received a Reliacard or mail from CDLE)

If you received unemployment paperwork but did not file a claim, or otherwise believe you are a victim of identity theft related to unemployment benefits, please submit a Report Unemployment Fraud form.

Additionally, there are several recommended steps to follow:

• Follow the instructions on the U.S. Bank ReliaCard page, or contact U.S. Bank immediately at 1-855-282-6161. Tell them that a fraudulent unemployment claim was filed using your information, and ask them to deactivate the card.
   
• Contact the three consumer credit bureaus and put a fraud alert on your name and Social Security number (SSN). It may be an automated system, so you may not talk to a live person and you will have to enter your SSN and date of birth.
             
              Credit Bureau Contact Info:
              Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
              Experian: 1-888-397-3742
              TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289
   

I submitted a Report Unemployment Fraud form. What are some steps I can take in the meantime?

• It is important to regularly review your credit reports from each of the three credit bureaus. Each will look different and may contain different information. If you discover any incorrect or fraudulent information on your credit report, you should dispute it with the credit bureau directly. Normally, you can receive one free copy of your credit report each year from each credit bureau. Due to increased fraud during the COVID-19 pandemic, each of the three credit bureaus is offering free weekly credit reports via Annual Credit Report.com.
   
• You can also report identity theft to the Federal Trade Commission at Identity Theft.gov. 
   
• Lastly, create a file where you can keep any records relating to this identity theft in one central place, in case you are notified of other fraud or breaches of your personal information.
   

Are there any other resources to help me recover from identity theft?

• It is important to regularly review your credit reports from each of the three credit bureaus. Each will look different and may contain different information. If you discover any incorrect or fraudulent information on your credit report, you should dispute it with the credit bureau directly. Normally, you can receive one free copy of your credit report each year from each credit bureau. Due to increased fraud and identity theft during the COVID-19 pandemic, each of the three credit bureaus is offering free weekly credit reports via Annual Credit Report.com
   
• You can also report identity theft to the Federal Trade Commission at Identity Theft.gov. The FTC's website includes valuable resources about how to recover from identity theft and protect your identity.
   
• Lastly, create a file where you can keep any records relating to this identity theft in one central place, in case you are notified of other fraud or breaches of your personal information.
   
• The FTC's website includes valuable resources about how to recover from identity theft and protect your identity.
   
• Visit the Stop Fraud Colorado website.

For Employers

FAQs for Employers

Was there a CDLE data breach? 

No, there has been no data breach. Like other states, Colorado continues to see increased unemployment fraud activity. Many Colorado employers are noticing fraudulent unemployment claims being filed in the names of active employees or for people who never worked for them. Fraud within Unemployment Insurance programs nationally has become rampant during the Pandemic. 

The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment was one of the first agencies to begin an aggressive fraud detection and prevention program when this issue began to present itself. To date, CDLE has stopped over 800,000 fraudulent claims, and has likely prevented over $7 billion in fraudulent payments. These sophisticated criminal rings use Personally Identifiable information, including social security numbers, to file claims on behalf of unsuspecting victims. The sheer volume of this identity theft is likely the result of one or several data breaches that have occurred over the past few years, which compromised hundreds of millions of identities. 

If you receive unemployment paperwork on an active employee, we recommend that you notify that employee that they are likely a victim of identity theft and should take immediate precautions. While unemployment is relatively harmless to the victim’s credit, these criminals could make other transactions using these identities, which has the potential to cause irreparable damage to the victim’s credit. 

Where do I report Identity Theft?

As an employer, you can report suspected identity theft on our Unemployment Identity Theft Form for Employers.
Report Identity Theft for Employers

Your employees should also report on the Unemployment Identity Theft Form for Individuals.
Report Identity Theft for Individuals

What happens after I submit a report? 

After completing the “Identity Theft Report”, we will hold payment from being issued on the claim, pending investigation. However, you may continue to receive paperwork that’s automatically generated. Rest assured, the report was received, and the claim is under investigation. We understand how unsettling this experience can be. We take any fraud seriously and work daily with law enforcement and other agencies to investigate and prosecute this behavior. If you haven’t yet, we encourage you to review our tips on protecting yourself against fraud.

Will my premiums be impacted by fraudulent claims? 

If any benefits were paid that would charge against your account prior to the claim being closed as a fraudulent claim, once the claim was closed for the fraudulent activity, your account is credited for any benefits that might have been paid. As such, payment of any of those benefits will not impact your experience rating when your premium rates are calculated.

Do I need to appeal these claims and benefit charges? 

If you are certain the claim is fraudulent, please complete the Identity Theft Report. Additionally, if you receive a factfinding request from the Division on such a claim, please also respond to that request indicating that you have reported the claim as fraudulent. Responding to this factfinding will ensure that your appeal rights are preserved in the event the claim is later determined to be legitimate. Similarly, if you receive a Notice of Determination on such a claim and you disagree with it, you should file an appeal. If your reason for disagreement is that you believe the claim is fraudulent, you should state this in your appeal.

What do I do with a job separation request for an employee still on payroll? 

When a claim is filed using the stolen identity of one of your employees, you receive a fact-finding questionnaire by email or U.S. mail requesting information about the job separation. If that employee still works for you, please complete that questionnaire and indicate that the claim is fraudulent (in MyUI Employer or the paper form you may have received). Please also file an Identity Theft Report on our website. Employees who are the victim of unemployment ID Theft should also submit an ID Theft Report online. They should visit the Unemployment Insurance website and click the “Report ID Theft” button, then the “I'm an Individual Reporting Identity Theft” button. Our website also outlines other important steps that employees who are victims of UI fraud should take.

Special instructions for SIDES employer users:

For SIDES users, please complete the Identity Theft report on the CDLE website and also still respond to the questionnaire within the SIDES program. We are working on a method for one central reporting location and will update that in the near future. Visit the Respond to Job Separation page for more information about SIDES.

Is the form to report identity theft secure? 

The Employer Identity Theft reporting form uses a system called FormAssembly. FormAssembly keeps up with the latest protocols to ensure security per the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Cybersecurity Framework. FormAssembly uses TLS 1.2 to ensure data is transmitted securely.

All Personal Identifying information (PII), specifically SSNs are marked as sensitive data to further protect the data within the system. Additionally, reCAPTCHA is used to prevent spam submissions to the form. We follow State protocols for purging, storing, and accessing SSNs.

Is CDLE sending out Social Security Numbers? How do I report fraud without a full SSN?

Our employer correspondence masks an employee’s full SSN, showing the last 4 numbers. If you are reporting fraud for someone who never worked for you, please use this format for the SSN on the fraud reporting form: 00000 (then add the last four digits on the questionnaire form).

Fraud Prosecutions