Colorado Bureau of Investigation
UNEMPLOYMENT FRAUD
If you have received a ReliaCard or a notice about your unemployment claim, but you have not applied for this benefit, you are a victim of Unemployment Fraud and Identity Theft. There are immediate steps that you may take to address this.
STEP 1:
Report the fraudulent claim by going to the Colorado Department of Labor website:
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https://cdle.colorado.gov/unemployment
Click on "Report ID Theft"
Click on "I'm an Individual Reporting Identity Theft"
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Enter your email address
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For type of Fraud, Click on "My identity was used to file an unemployment claim or I have received a Reliacard(s) in someone else's name"
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**This process will report the fraud to the proper investigators for the State of Colorado.
STEP 2:
If you received a U.S. Bank Reliacard for Colorado unemployment benefits but did not file a claim, fill out the U.S Bank Form below, contact U.S. Bank immediately at 1-855-279-1678. Tell them that a fraudulent unemployment claim was filed using your information, and ask them to deactivate the card.
Here is a message from US Bank about reporting:
STEP 3:
***This step is only required IF you receive IRS tax documents regarding unemployment wages***
If you have received a 1099-G document from the Colorado Department of Labor Employment and did not file for unemployment benefits please report to CDLE using the link below.
If you have received tax documents from the IRS regarding unemployment wages that are fraudulent please complete IRS Form 14039 Identity Theft Affidavit. Send it to the IRS and keep a copy to submit with your 2020 State and Federal Taxes.
After completing these steps you have reported this form of Identity Theft and Fraud to the proper authorites.
Below are some tips for you to consider to further protect yourself from identity theft.
TIP 1:
Due to increased fraud during the COVID-19 pandemic, each of the three credit bureaus is offering free weekly credit reports via annualcreditreport.com. It is important to regularly review your credit reports from each of the three credit bureaus. Each report will look different and may contain different information. If you discover any incorrect or fraudulent information on your credit report, you should dispute it with the credit bureau directly.
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TIP 2:
Contact the three consumer credit bureaus and put a fraud alert or credit freeze on your name and Social Security number (SSN). It may be an automated system, so you may not talk to a live person and you will have to enter your SSN and date of birth.
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Phone:
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Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
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Experian: 1-888-397-3742
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TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289
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Online:
TIP 3:
You can also report identity theft to the Federal Trade Commission at identitytheft.gov. The FTC’s website includes helpful resources about how to recover from identity theft and protect your identity.
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To report the Unemployment Fraud click on the green button in the top right corner of the identitytheft.gov webpage.
For additional support
For additional assistance contact the Colorado Bureau of Investigation Victim Advocates by emailing us at
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Please provide us with your name and contact information. A Victim Advocate will be in contact with you to go over some tips for protecting your identity and to answer your questions.