A Youngstown woman received a 1099-G form in the mail for unemployment benefits but says she hadn't applied for them. She was confused but then she realized she was a victim of identity fraud.

"I was very upset. I was supposed to file it with my income tax, it's unemployment," said the Youngstown woman. "I looked and nineteen thousand dollars, I don't file unemployment, I don't claim unemployment, I just have social security. So it scared me a little bit," she said.

Nearly twenty thousand dollars were fraudulently claimed under someone else's identity, and that's just one case!

Cases like these are pretty common throughout the year, but the pandemic caused a spike in fraudulent activity. Officials tell 21 News that catastrophic events are major opportunities for scammers to, well, scam.

Even major personalities in government have received 1099 forms in the mail and were victims of identity theft.

"This has been a big headache for a lot of Ohioans," said Melissa Ames, Better Business Bureau Vice President. "The governor and the lieutenant governor had even mentioned during one of the press conferences that they had received these 1099's in the mail as well," she said.

However, if you are a victim of identity theft, there's no need to panic. The Better Business Bureau tells 21 News that there's a number of ways you can rectify the situation, beginning with notifying the IRS.

Unemploymenthelp.ohio.gov has tools and resources that can help anyone whose identity has been stolen. At the top of the page, there are two red options that allow you to choose if you were a victim of identity theft and what to do if you were. Follow the prompts to report your case. 

The bureau also suggests getting a credit check to be sure there isn't any activity that you don't recognize.