The Kansas Department of Labor is telling residents about yet another phishing effort underway now.
Residents may get texts telling them the department is consolidating access to all applications into one point. Residents are then prompted to answer so-called verification questions.
Labor Department officials say the text is not from the department. Any associated links should not be clicked and the texts should be deleted immediately.
Word on this phishing scheme comes just a day after the department launched an updated www.GetKansasBenefits.gov website with added security features through a partnership with LexisNexis. The department says it stopped almost 400,000 fraudulent logins just Tuesday and over 538,000 since the redesigned website was made available.
Not everybody who tried to log into the more secure system got through. Over 45,000 residents have tried and only 27,000 were successful, but the Labor Department says identity check issues or other technical difficulties may have been in play.
Lawmakers have also faulted the department’s response to the ongoing fraud, which has been enormous. A third-party administrator for employer unemployment claims say Kansas had been responsible for 97 percent of the country’s 17,000 fraudulent claims since Oct. 1. Since New year’s Day, the administrator had processed more than 4,000 fraudulent claims — not including second, third or even fourth notices.
