AUGUSTA, Maine — EDITOR'S NOTE: The video above aired May 25, 2021.
The Maine Department of Labor (Maine DOL) announced Wednesday it has partnered with ID.me in an effort to help bolster current fraud prevention measures and protect unemployment claimants.
"ID.me is a secure and safe national portal that Maine will be using to verify the identity of unemployment claimants in our ongoing efforts to detect and prevent fraudulent unemployment claims. This identity verification integration is in addition to current fraud prevention measures and will help to ensure claimants identities are verified before their claim is processed," the Maine DOL said in a release.
Who will be asked to verify their identity?
The Maine DOL said a claimant may be selected to provide proof of their identity through the secure portal for one of two main reasons:
- Their claim was reviewed and contains elements that have been seen in confirmed ID Theft claims. To ensure the claim is legitimate and benefits will be paid to the actual claimant, providing proof of their identity through the ID.me portal may be required, according to the Maine DOL.
- Per federal guidance in the Continued Assistance Act of 2020, all new Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims filed after January 31, 2021, are subject to identity verification.
The Maine DOL also provided the following information about the process:
If a claimant must submit ID verification documents, notification will be added to their ReEmployME account, and instructions for completion of the process may be found under Correspondences in their account, as well as sent via regular mail.
They will be asked to create an ID.me account and begin the identity verification process. The Department recommends that claimants create a unique username and password that they have not used for anything else.
Once they complete the identity verification process, the result will be sent back to the Department in real-time. If there are no other issues, the Department will move forward with their claim. If there is still a question about their identity after completing the verification process, ID.me may reach out to the claimant directly for the next steps.
According to the Maine DOL, ID.me also partners with many federal government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Social Security Administration, and Department of the Treasury. Other states have also partnered with ID.me to help prevent unemployment benefit fraud, according to the Maine DOL.
The Maine DOL said more information on the process will be posted to its website: www.maine.gov/unemployment.
Anyone who believes that their information has been used to file a fraudulent unemployment claim should let the Maine DOL know immediately by reporting it here: https://www.maine.gov/unemployment/fraud/.
The Maine DOL said legitimate claimants should also check their unemployment accounts to confirm that their address and payment method are accurate.
Employers can report fraud here: https://www.maine.gov/unemployment/fraud/ or email UIFraud.DOL@maine.gov, according to the Maine DOL.