Scam targets the unemployed

The agency's Tom Fuller said some unemployment insurance claimants have received text messages stating their account has been de-activated. The message then instructs the claimant to re-activate their account by calling a phone number, he said.

Once the claimant calls the number, he or she is asked to enter confidential account information. This is a suspected phishing operation, the illegal practice of gleaning personal information.

Fuller said neither the Oregon Employment Department nor U.S. Bank, who issues the ReliaCard Visa debit card, communicates with unemployment insurance claimants through text messaging.

Claimants who receive such a text message should disregard it, or call the number on the back of their ReliaCard, he said.