Fraud Alert: Erroneous Forms 1099-G Due to Fraudulent Unemployment Insurance Claims (NUIFTF, 2021)

Summary

A public fraud alert dated February 26, 2021 from the Department of Justice's National Unemployment Insurance Fraud Task Force (NUIFTF), titled Issuance of Erroneous Forms 1099-G due to Fraudulent Unemployment Insurance Claims. It says the task force is investigating numerous schemes, some by transnational criminal organizations, that used stolen identities to file unemployment insurance claims during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because state workforce agencies issue Forms 1099-G to report taxable benefits, people whose identities were used may receive a form for benefits they never collected, or learn of the fraud later from the IRS. The alert points state agencies and potential victims to resources from the U.S. Department of Labor, the IRS and the Federal Trade Commission, and gives the Labor Department inspector general hotline for reporting fraud.

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Record facts

Full text

Issuance of  Erroneous Forms 1099-G due to  
Fraudulent Unemployment Insurance Claims 
Public Distribution 
 
February 26, 2021 
 
The Department of Justice’s National Unemployment Insurance Fraud Task Force (NUIFTF) is 
investigating numerous fraud schemes targeting state workforce agency’s (SWAs) unemployment 
insurance (UI) programs across the United States.  Fraudsters, some of which are transnational criminal 
organizations, have used stolen identities to file fraudulent claims for UI benefits, exploiting the 
benefits provided in response to economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.   
 
The NUIFTF is issuing this alert to warn the public and SWAs about the issuance of erroneous Forms 
1099-G, Certain Government Payments, by SWAs as a result of this fraud.  Since UI benefits are taxable 
income, SWAs issue Forms 1099-G to recipients and to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to report the 
amount of taxable unemployment compensation received and any withholding. Due to widespread 
fraud, much of it involving identity theft, Americans may receive a Form 1099-G indicating they have 
collected UI benefits when they have not done so.  In other instances, Americans may not receive a 
Form 1099-G, but later learn from the IRS or another party that their identity was used to file for UI 
benefits unbeknownst to them. 
 
The NUIFTF has worked collaboratively with the U.S. Department of Labor, Federal Trade Commission, 
and IRS to put together the resources contained in the links below.  SWAs are encouraged to review 
these resources and release consistent external messaging.  Potential victims should review the 
information contained in the links and take any necessary actions they deem appropriate.  
  
U.S. Department of Labor – ETA 
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/unemployment-insurance-
payment-accuracy/report-unemployment-insurance-fraud 
Internal Revenue Service 
https://www.irs.gov/identity-theft-fraud-scams/identity-theft-
and-unemployment-benefits 
Federal Trade Commission 
www.IdentityTheft.gov/unemploymentinsurance 
 
Individuals with information about UI fraud should call (202) 693-6999 or 
(800) 347-3756, or go to https://www.oig.dol.gov/hotline.htm 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
U.S. Department of  Justice 
National Unemployment Insurance Fraud Task Force

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ALERT_DOL-OIG-NUIFTF_erroneous-1099G_2021.pdf

Original

www.oig.dol.gov