Friday, June 19, 2020
Recently, the Indiana Department of Workforce Development (DWD) announced that Indiana qualifies for the United States Department of Labor's Extended Benefits program, allowing an additional 13 weeks of unemployment insurance coverage for Hoosiers.
This program is available to workers who have exhausted regular unemployment insurance benefits during periods of high unemployment, including the CARES Act's Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation.
Indiana’s unemployment rate currently exceeds the five percent threshold to trigger the extension, and Hoosiers will be able to apply during the first week of July. Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation will continue to provide an additional $600 per week to claimants until July 25.
In addition to announcing this extension, DWD is warning that fraudsters are trying to take advantage of Hoosiers applying for these assistance programs.
These scammers have been known to send emails in an effort to steal claimants’ passwords, account numbers and Social Security numbers. This information allows them to gain access to your personal accounts and information.
These emails have included the names of familiar companies or individuals. They use familiar icons, folder names and programs to trick claimants into sharing their personal information.
You can protect yourself by not clicking any links in suspicious emails and calling the sender to inquire if the email is legitimate.
To learn more about unemployment assistance or to report an allegation of fraud involving unemployment, please visit Unemployment.IN.gov.
