I’d like to think that they’d at least kick it over to a fraud inspector (or whatever they’re called) rather than toss it in the rubbish bin.
Different department, but when I got voting information for the lady that hubby & I bought our house from pre-2016 (so TWO presidential elections ago) I called and they asked me to “return to sender” marked “no longer at this address” so that they could record that the voter no longer lived at our address. They seemed interested in getting the info. The person could have just pretended to take down the information over the phone, but specifically requested that I send it back. So I’d like to think that it will matter that I actually sent it back. I guess I’ll find out if we get more ballot info for her next election.
Different scenario in this case. I filed a fraudulent claim form already, so they should know about this (again, why would I make this type of claim when there’s money already coming to me?).
Getting the physical card back isn’t relevant since I can still “copy the number” and use that even if they have the physical card. The important piece of information is what is actually in the account–again, something they already have ready access and don’t need anything specific from me to check.
In this context, the claimed employers on the UE claim are the ones that are going to challenge the legitimacy of the situation. Once that is challenged and verified, and the claim is ultimately found to be erroneous, they’re going to come after any money that has left the account, not the card (they can simply “close” the card; so they don’t need the physical one).
Destroy the card (w/o activating it) solves the problem of money going out of that account. The Agency isn’t going to do anything with the physical card (especially if it’s destroyed) because there’s not point in keeping it. They’re not going to invest the time to “recreate” account number from the scraps. If they have your name and claim #, they can get whatever is needed.
Returning the card would just be if you thought that they were otherwise going to ignore your claim of fraud. If you feel like they are following up on it appropriately already then I agree that it wouldn’t be necessary.
Quick update on things I’ve done for my situation:
Went online and filed a claim of fraud for the case
Notified one employer (seasonal work) of the claim and its fraudulent status
My main employer is aware of the general nature of the situation, so I don’t think I need to do anything explicit for them (their documentation even indicates that they’ll act once the state notifies them of the claim)
Placed a Fraud Alert with Equifax. They’re obligated to pass the Alert to the other two major credit bureaus
Check my Equifax credit for unusual activity (everything looked okay).
I plan on pulling a full credit report later this week; with a follow up soon after Christmas as well as another soon after New Year’s.
This is a good reminder that credit reports (US, unsure if other countries use the same credit bureaus) are free weekly during the pandemic. https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action
