Brandon woman worried after she receives unemployment benefits, even though she didn’t apply

BRANDON, Fla (WFLA) – Jessica Sanders was stunned when she received an unemployment check in October, even though she had not lost her job and didn’t apply for benefits.

“I didn’t know what was going on,” she said.

She alerted the state’s Department of Economic Opportunity but says she had little confidence that the representative she spoke with clearly understood what was going on. Since she couldn’t confirm the phone number that was connected to the mysterious account in her name, customer service couldn’t verify the account.

Then, last week she received a debit card with more benefits.

One strange thing is that both the check, which she returned, and the debit card are made out in her maiden name and were sent to her parent’s address.

Sanders said she couldn’t reach the right people at the state to help, so she called Better Call Behnken

A DEO spokeswoman promised an investigation. Sanders is hopeful.

“The time in my past when I actually needed unemployment, it was a saving grace,” she said. “It got me through so I could stay up to date on my bills, keep my credit in good standing, and all of that could be gone with this.”