You’re Fired!

Almost two weeks ago I received a letter from IDES, the Illinois Department of Employment Security, notifying me they had received my request for unemployment.  The letter asked if I wished to contest the claim.  Since I am president of my company, I was shocked to find out that “I” had filed this claim! On the same day, another letter said that my wife had also filed but her request was denied as fraudulent.
The Daily Herald recently reported that about 80% of new unemployment claims in Illinois were frauds.  That means for every legal claim there are FOUR illegal claims!  Our state has enough problems without being ripped off with bogus unemployment claims!
I contacted IDES and explained the situation. I was instructed to destroy any debit cards that may come in the mail immediately upon receipt.  Sure enough, a few days later both my wife and I got them!
I reported the events to my Identity theft protection company, who instructed me to file a police report.
I was also told to contact the IRS to report the identity theft and to complete a Form 14039 (Identity Theft Affidavit).
There are several more steps I need to complete, but the main focus of this article is that we have to stand up and take action to stop these occurrences.  I have heard from other business owners that they have been experiencing the same issues.  It is easy to just ignore the problems, but we must report them to help the appropriate agencies catch these people and put a stop to these games.