The Illinois Department of Employment Security has confirmed fraudsters are using a new scheme to file for unemployment compensation using personally identifying information which was seemingly obtained from a separate source (e.g. a previous cyber-attack or other identity theft) outside of the department's systems.
An analysis found fraudsters were applying for unemployment benefits using the PII of certain identity theft victims and including fake employer addresses in their applications. Fraud notices from IDES, containing the PII, were then sent to the addresses fraudsters claimed were employers. This is now another aggressive maneuver used by bad actors looking to defraud and disrupt states' unemployment systems.