Are you a victim of Identity Theft and Benefit Loss?
Fraud can include a variety of sham activities that result in your benefit funds being lost or stolen. It can include intentional deception or misrepresentation. This fraud takes a benefit meant for you, and directs that money to the wrong person or third party.
If you believe fraud may have occurred or is about to occur on your Wisconsin Retirement System account, please notify your financial institution, local law enforcement, and the Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Funds right away.
ETF will review the matter and may be able to stop further fraudulent activity by freezing payments or suspending impacted accounts.
Please note that ETF has limited authority or ability to return or reimburse you for lost or stolen benefits. You should work with local law enforcement and your bank to have lost or stolen funds returned to you.
Member or Beneficiary Fraud
What Should I do if I Suspect my Pension Check/Payment has Been Stolen?
- Report the suspected fraud to your financial institution immediately.
- Your bank or other financial institution is in the best position to freeze impacted accounts, monitor fraudulent activity, and return or reimburse to you any impacted funds.
- Report the suspected fraud to local law enforcement immediately.
- Local law enforcement may open an investigation into the criminal or fraudulent activity and will work with other agencies to review the issue.
- Review the information provided by the Federal Trade Commission and State Fraud Unit to ensure you protect your accounts and identity.
- Report the suspected fraud to ETF immediately.
- ETF will be able to suspend benefit payments, freeze impacted accounts, and may, depending on the circumstances, be able to have fraudulently paid benefit payments returned to you.
What Will ETF do If My WRS Benefits or Accounts Have Been Impacted by Fraud?
- Once ETF has all the necessary information regarding the fraud incident, ETF will:
- Review the authenticity of the fraud claims.
- Contact impacted members or beneficiaries.
- May freeze payments and suspend impacted accounts until the issue is fixed.
- Respond to inquiries from federal or state agencies investigating the fraudulent activity.
Fraud Resources
- Federal Trade Commission
The FTC is responsible for protecting consumers by preventing deceptive, fraudulent, or other unfair or misleading practices, including identity theft issues, data security issues, and deceptive practices generally - Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
The Consumer Protection Bureau at DATCP is responsible for unfair or deceptive practices against Wisconsin residents. It reviews consumer complaints and provides education and investigative resources related to identity theft.