Detectives from the Indiana State Police Indianapolis District have recently received complaints about a potential scam in the form of a text message. The messenger claims to be from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development and indicates the recipient has unclaimed money from the state. The message gives instructions to click a link, that link will take them to a webpage asking for personal / confidential information.
Detectives have communicated the Indiana Department of Workforce Development and confirmed that they WILL NOT send a text or email message asking individuals to click a link to receive benefits or any type of payment. Clicking on the link and providing personal information will give fraudsters the ability to access personal accounts or sell personal information on the dark web. You can report unemployment fraud here: in.gov/dwd/indiana-unemployment/fraud/
The fraudulent link received via text message looks like this: https: //uplink-indiana .us/ login
A reputable resource to research potential scams, or cross check a suspicious message you have received can be found on the Better Business Bureau's Website: https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker/
The Indiana State Police would like to remind Hoosiers the easiest way to protect yourself from being scammed by text or by email is to ignore and delete unsolicited requests for information from unknown senders. You should NEVER provide any information to an unknown sender about your personal identity, social security number, bank account(s), or credit card number(s). Be extra cautious about clicking any links that are sent to you by an unknown person.