WALNUT COVE, N.C. — A Walnut Cove man never thought he'd be fielding calls from others seeking unemployment, while still waiting for his own during a global pandemic.
Last Tuesday, Adrian Mitchell found himself doing just that, after waking up to dozens of missed calls and voicemails from people he didn't know.
"It was people leaving their personal information," said Mitchell.
Mitchell said he's concerned, not only with the fact that calls are not getting to the right place, but also that people are leaving information like their name, address, and social security number on his voicemail.
Mitchell has is on week nine of being unemployed. Last Monday, he called the Division of Employment Services to file for unemployment.
"I called [DES] on Monday and left my number late Monday evening for a callback," said Mitchell, "Tuesday morning it started going off and it ain’t stopped ever since."
Puzzled, Mitchell said he decided to answer one of the calls to find out why strangers were calling him.
"I started answering the phone calls and was like, 'How did y’all get my number?' and the first guy I talked with, he was like, 'I spoke with a live agent and they gave it to me and they said that you were a DES worker,'" said Mitchell.
Mitchell reached out to DES to figure out what exactly was going on. WFMY News 2 also reached out to the state.
A representative for the Division of Employment Services said the department is looking into the situation to determine the facts, but that they "have not encountered such an issue before."
"I’m just frustrated because it seems like everybody in North Carolina want to call me but the right people," Mitchell said with a laugh.
Mitchell said since reaching out to DES, his unemployment claim has been approved, and he will be receiving his unemployment money soon.
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