Thousands of Mississippi workers have had their identities stolen, only finding out after claims for unemployment have been filed in their name.
While residents aren't immune to hackers, MDES is taking measures to eliminate the threat.
Officials say hackers used information from social media to file thousands of unemployment claims on line through the Mississippi Department of Employment security.
Last July the U.S. Department of Labor notified the state agency of fake claims originating from Florida.
At its peak, during the fourth quarter of 2014 MDES paid out $169,000.00 in unemployment benefits after implementing new procedures they report payments of only $9,500.00 in the first quarter of 2015.
"We encourage people to file their claim on line, but we're now going back to those individuals just for a follow up call to verify a little bit of information and verify who they are," says MDES Deputy Executive Director Dale Smith.
According to officials, from July 2014 through February 2015 the agency blocked more than 2.2 million attempts to file fraudulent claims for benefits.
During that same time less than .1 percent or about 2,200 fraudulent attempts were successful.
Now unemployment benefits are paid through state issued debit card and no longer through direct deposit because scammers were using pre-paid cards to illegally obtain payments.
"They were giving us those card numbers as their banking account numbers and the money was being added to them, and we could not trace those individuals," added Smith.
Some taxpayers are also finding out that their identities have been stolen when filing their taxes.
Jackson Hewitt General Manager Susan Norris tells us about 3% of her clients have discovered the problem when they filed and learned from the IRS that someone had already done so electronically in their name.
If you find that someone has filed for your taxes fraudulently you must use the IRS Identity Theft Affidavit Form 14039 and provide identification for the manual procedure to file your tax form.
The IRS will investigate and process your return, and there is a possibility you could receive your refund at a later date.
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