Hackers trying to steal your unemployment
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Nashville (WSMV) — Criminals are hacking into people’s accounts who are filing for unemployment and trying to steal their money. News 4 talked with several people who want answers, so we went to the Tennessee Department of Labor to answer those questions.
“They changed things like my password and changed my security question,” Lorilee Bell, who has been unemployed for the last year, said.
News4 Investigates confirmed she’s just one of the dozens of people whose account with the state has been hacked, leaving them unable to claim their benefits.
“What do you think about the fact days later you still can’t get into your account?” News 4 asked Bell.
“It’s scary because what happens if I can’t claim this week? Then what’s going to happen,” said Bell.
News4 Investigate took her questions to the state.
“Do you see why people are frustrated? They want this fixed, and they feel like it’s not being fixed fast enough. It’s very difficult to maneuver and difficult to manage. It’s almost impossible to detect unless the claimant tells us something has happened to their account,” Chris Cannon with the Tennessee Department of Labor said.
Officials with the Tennessee Department of Labor said they first started hearing about these hacks in January after the weekly benefit amount people could receive from the government went up to $300.
News 4 found one person after another posting on Facebook about it. One lady writes she was hacked three times, and someone even went as far as to log into her account and put their debit card in.
“They really need to get on the ball and fix this problem,” said Bell.
The state told News 4 they’re doing everything they can to fix this for those affected as quickly as possible. In the meantime, people should be careful where they log in to their accounts and never do it use public Wi-Fi. News 4 found out if a person’s account was hacked, they will receive whatever payments they missed.
If your account has been compromised, people are asked to email BPC.Investigations@tn.gov
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