Macon Reporter

State Rep. Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville) is warning residents about an unemployment fraud scheme that particularly targets seniors by offering to expedite the application process for benefits.

“My office has received reports of a wide variety of scams, including those who have applied for benefits being contacted by outside individuals offering to expedite the process if provided personal information and also seniors and others who have never applied receiving debit cards in the mail,” Halbrook said. “This has been going on for several weeks, and finally, the governor’s office has acknowledged the problem and responded.”

Halbrook’s office is now advising all residents to be vigilant and make it a point of reporting any unsolicited offers of assistance or benefits not applied for. In addition, Halbrook is instructing all identity theft victims or those otherwise targeted to immediately contact the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) at 800-814-0513 and refrain from activating any debit card that was mailed to them unsolicited.

“I hope that acknowledging this serious problem is finally the beginning of the administration taking responsibility for the systematic failures at IDES during our coronavirus ordeal, but we need to get to the bottom of how and why these failures happened,” Halbrook added. “We need public hearings where we can question agency officials and take action to ensure this can never happen again in Illinois.”

With the number of unemployed residents at a recent all-time high stemming from the spread of COVID-19, a growing number of lawmakers are calling for a complete and independent audit of the system after countless out-of-work residents have been unable able to smoothly file for benefits because of glitches with the system.

Among the issues included the names, addresses and full Social Security numbers of countless individuals who filed for benefits being made public over the IDES website.