Report Fraudulent Unemployment Claims

The state of Massachusetts has reported an increase in fraudulent unemployment claims as a result of a nationwide scam. If you are notified or receive notification from the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA) in the mail of a claim in your name that you did not initiate, you should take immediate action. Use the DUA’s Unemployment fraud reporting form

Learn more about protecting yourself from identity theft and unemployment fraud at the DUA website.

What to Do if You Receive a 1099-G Form Due to Fraud

Some employees are receiving 1099-G forms due to a fraudulent unemployment claims being filed in their name. Even employees who filed a fraud form in Massachusetts have received this tax form, but there are steps to take to remedy this.

• Go to https://www.mass.gov/alerts/unemployment-updates#1748601
• See 1099-G issue at the bottom of the page
• If you received a 1099-G and you did NOT receive unemployment or PUA benefits in 2020, please complete the secure form to alert the Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA).

Upon review of your Fraud Reporting Form submission, DUA’s Program Integrity team will make note of the submission on the claim filed in your name and lock the claim, which will cease activity on that claim.  In addition, this information will be provided to law enforcement as part of their investigation of the national unemployment fraud scheme.

The DUA Program Integrity team will process the reported fraud to ensure that if any payments were made, they are not recognized as income to you and are not reported to the IRS on Form 1099-G at the end of the calendar year for tax purposes.  If you have already received a 1099-G related to this fraudulent claim, we will review your request and send you a corrected Form 1099-G.  In addition, the fraudulent claim will not impact your ability to collect unemployment should you need to in the future.