Unemployment Benefit Scams
Email or Telephone Scams
Certain Unemployment Insurance (UI) Benefit scams involve email messages which are sent as an attempt to acquire unemployment debit card or personal information from you to gain access to your funds or to commit identity theft. These email messages will ask you to disclose personal information such as: your social security number, birthdate, PIN number, etc. These “phishing” emails may appear to have been sent by Unemployment Insurance personnel, someone from the Department of Labor, a banking institution or other entity that would never require you to give out this sensitive information. The same warning would also apply to telephone calls or text messages received by you where the caller is requesting personal or confidential information. Our staff will not ask for your full social security number (unless you initiated contact with the Call Center or other agency personnel via telephone).
Emails from the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program will always have “@azdes.gov” as part of the sender’s address on the “From” line. A way to check to make sure that the message is in fact coming from UI is to hover your mouse pointer over the sender’s email address in the “From” line. If you see anything other than what was previously described ([email protected]), do not click on any links in the email body or respond.
Reported UI Scams
- The subjects of a certain bogus, phishing email will not even relate to your UI claim. One offered affordable car insurance and another wanted information to sign the individual up for an “email buddy list”.
- Several reports have also been received about a window that appears during the online application process relating to credit scores. Do not click on any links that are not part of the application.
- Another scam involves an email which states that your debit card has been deactivated or that you need to supply more information in order to receive your UI benefits. You are asked to provide confidential information to reactivate or update your card. Once the scammer has this information it can be used to gain access to your debit card account or to commit identity theft. If you have been a victim of this type of scam, contact the bank that issued the debit card (either your personal card or the one that is issued by the Bank of America for receiving your UI benefit payments) immediately.
- There's a reported email scam which advises the recipient that his/her UI benefit application was received, but not complete. It provides links within the email to “continue the unemployment filing process”. The Department will not send emails asking you to click on a “link” within the message body.
The Arizona UI Call Center mailing address is: P. O. Box 29225. Phoenix, Arizona 85038-9225. UI claim related questionnaires or other requests for information/documents pertaining to your eligibility for benefits will always show this as our official return address.
Unauthorized UI Web Sites
There are Web sites that offer to apply for UI benefits on your behalf. It is important to remember that you are the only person who can apply for UI benefits—third parties cannot file these applications for you! These scam Web sites collect your personal information which can be used by them for identity theft or to commit other actions that could have a negative impact on you. Some of these third party scam Web sites even charge for their “services”. Filing for UI benefits from any state is free—there is no charge to you for any services provided by a state Unemployment Insurance agency (either, completing an application for benefits or filing weekly claims to receive payments). Our official Web site is AZUI.com and the Web addresses for our two online systems are:
If you see any other text in the Web address within your browser address bar when applying for UI benefits or submitting your weekly claims, do NOT proceed! Do not enter your Social Security Number or any other personal information.