Bismarck (CSi) – A new identity-theft scam is circulating to North Dakotans.

Job Service North Dakota has received multiple reports of residents receiving text messages telling them they have successfully changed their password on their North Dakota UI ICE profile – regardless of whether they have an Unemployment Insurance claim or UI ICE account or not.

The message could read things like:

  • “Someone has tried to login to your UI ICE profile. If this was not you, Please reply stop.”
  • “Congratulations! You have successfully changed your UI ICE password! If this was not you, Please reply stop.”
  • “You have successfully changed your PASSWORD on your North Dakota UI ICE profile from a NEW DEVICE in (other location). If this was not you, Please reply stop.”

 

Users, who reply ‘stop’ thinking they are removing themselves from danger are actually exposing themselves to identity theft.

Replying ‘stop’ prompts users to login to a realistic-looking faked site which asks for personally identifying information including address, social security number, email, phone number, and driver’s license number.

“It is highly unlikely scammers could use this information to access any UI ICE accounts because we have a number of strong fraud prevention measures in place,” said Bryan Klipfel, executive director of Job Service North Dakota. “But this is a clear attempt to steal identities by posing as a state agency and that information can be used in millions of other places to defraud people.”

The public is urged not to open or reply to these messages, and to delete or report them to law enforcement. When Job Service North Dakota sends a text message, it will not contain any links.

It is a good time to remind the public to be highly suspicious of emails or text messages from numbers they cannot identify. Always use a web browser to manually navigate to jobsnd.com and log in from there.