Officer Park: Scammers in full force during COVID-19 pandemic

Posted on November 13, 2020
Speaking with WJBC’s Marc Strauss, Normal Police Public Information Officer Brad Park said scammers are in full force during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo courtesy: WJBC/File)

By Blake Haas

NORMAL – According to Normal Police Public Information Officer,  scammers are out in full force during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking with WJBC’s Marc Strauss, Brad Park said scammers are attacking the Illinois Department of Employment of Security (IDES) through unemployment filings.

“What generally happens with this type of fraud is that in the mail, they will get a notification that there was an application from the Illinois Department of Employment Security. Sometimes there is also a debit attached in the mail with the envelope there. What the Illinois Department of Employment of Security needs you to give them a call. The main thing to do is do not activate the debit card that is associated with the fraud. You can shred it, get rid of it, cut it up, whatever you need to do, just don’t activate it.”

During a COVID-19 briefing on Thursday, Gov. Pritzker said IDES has recently seen an uptick in unemployment filings, primarily due to fraud.

“I think they will work with you. I think there is a lot of fraud going on right now, so they are definitely kind of overwhelmed with the people calling,” added Park. “But as long as you give them a call, you can document it; I’m sure they will document it on their system that you called on this date. It may take a week or two to get a callback.”

LISTEN: Normal Public Information Officer Brad Park spoke with WJBC’s Marc Strauss about recent COVID-19 fraud. 

IDES can be reached at 1-800-814-0513 or by visiting the IDES website that can be found here.

Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].

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