Dear COBA Members/Retirees;

COBA was notified late today of a large scale scam involving fraudulent unemployment benefit claims that are being perpetrated by using the Social Security information of Public Employees throughout the United States. This is a national issue involving the US Secret Service as well as our State and Local Law Enforcement.  

We were notified of a handful of specific Nassau County Correction Officers who have been affected by this. Nassau Police Officers and Civilian Employees who have been affected are also currently being notified. If your information was used in this scam, you will receive a notification in the mail from the State Unemployment Office asking questions about your employment history. The County will receive the same letter since the fraud involves the claim that you are no longer working for the County, and it appears that you are filing for Unemployment.  

Those in our Union who have been affected by this were notified this evening and are taking steps to review their personal credit histories as well as changing passwords to all of their personal information.

They are also being advised to notify their local Police Precincts to file a Police Report to record these incidents.  

Late today, County HR issued the memo below showing a step by step directive on what to do if you suspect a fraudulent claim has been made in your name and how to make the proper notifications.

Please do NOT call 911 to report this fraud related to Unemployment Claims. That is stated a little ambiguously in the memo below, but 911 is not the proper venue to report this issue.  

Again, those affected in our Dept have been notified. If you suspect you may also have an issue related to a fraudulent Unemployment Claim that may have been filed in your name, follow the steps below.  

In Unity;

Brian Sullivan, COBA President