The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment warned on social media Monday of a fraudulent Facebook account impersonating the agency and asking Coloradans for personal information.

The account closely resembles the Department of Labor’s, except that the scammers misspell the word “labor,” instead using the British spelling of “labour.”

CDLE said it is working with Facebook to remove the fraudulent account.

The agency emphasized that it will never ask for personally identifiable information such as your Social Security number or password over social media. If you are contacted by this fake account, do not respond and report the comment or message to Facebook.

The warning comes as the agency announced Sunday that it will begin rolling out Phase 2 of the extended pandemic benefits provided by the Continued Assistance Act on Feb. 22

CDLE has struggled for weeks to revamp its computer system so that Coloradans can request benefits that were made available via the federal Continued Assistance Act.

“We know that many Coloradans are facing extreme economic hardships right now, and have been anxiously waiting for the ability to apply for these added benefits,” said CDLE Executive Director Joe Barela. “The phased-in rollout of the program has been frustrating for many, however, our priority has been to get benefits in the hands of the most eligible claimants we could feasibly reach at one time.”

anicotera@the-journal.com