Beware: Unemployment Text Message Scam

Treasurer Stacy Garrity is warning Pennsylvanians that scammers are using fraudulent text messages to target recipients of unemployment compensation benefits – potentially including normal unemployment compensation (UC), Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC).

One message tells recipients – inaccurately – that their “state-issued ReliaCard account has been temporarily frozen.” It encourages recipients to click on a link “to verify [their] identity and card status.”

DO NOT click on the link. Neither the Pennsylvania Treasury nor the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry ever embed a link in a text message. Any text that includes a link and claims to be from these agencies should not be trusted. In fact, it’s important that you never provide any personally identifiable information, user IDs or passwords unless you initiated the conversation by contacting the agency directly.

For more information, please see the full news release from the Pennsylvania Treasury Department at https://www.patreasury.gov/newsroom/archive/2021/11-08-Text-Message-Scam.html