A coordinated impersonation scam targeting injured workers has now prompted official warnings from state workers’ compensation agencies, labor departments, and attorneys general in at least ten states since the start of 2026, with two more states flagging related or adjacent activity. The pattern across nearly every warning is strikingly consistent: scammers posing as workers’ compensation judges, hearing officers, attorneys, or state officials contact injured workers directly and tell them a settlement or benefit payment is ready to be released — but only after a fee is paid first.

Despite the scam’s spread across at least ten states since January 2026, no state agency alert, attorney general release, or industry roundup reviewed identifies a suspect, names a defendant, or reports an arrest tied to the scheme.

According to the state alerts, scammers reach claimants by phone, email, text message, video call, or social media, often using official-looking government seals, letterhead, or even the forged names and signatures of real judges or attorneys to appear legitimate. One especially convincing version stages a fake virtual hearing, walking the claimant through what feels like a real proceeding before a “judge” or “government representative,” only to inform them afterward that a fee must be paid before their benefits or settlement will be released. Tennessee’s Bureau of Workers’ Compensation separately identified a related tactic involving fraudulent “Payment Authorization Forms” that request a claimant’s banking or mailing information under the guise of processing a payout. Legitimate workers’ compensation benefits and settlements never require an injured worker to pay money upfront to receive funds they are owed, and state agencies do not initiate contact with claimants by text message, video call, or social media to request payment or schedule a hearing.

The earliest documented warning came from Colorado’s Division of Workers’ Compensation in January 2026, which alerted injured workers that scammers were posing as the Division itself, the courts, judges, and attorneys to solicit money. Warnings then spread quickly through February: Idaho’s Industrial Commission (February 12) flagged fraudulent settlement notices using fake Department of Labor seals and forged judges’ signatures; Oregon’s Department of Consumer and Business Services (February 12) warned specifically that Spanish-speaking injured workers were being targeted through fake hearings and settlement communications, a warning later confirmed by an actual Oregon case the Oregon Department of Justice addressed directly in April 2026; Tennessee’s Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (February 24, updated May 2026 to likewise flag Spanish-speaking claimants as a specific target) warned of impersonators claiming to represent its Court of Workers’ Compensation Claims; and the Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation (February 25) issued a similar warning about officials being impersonated for fraud schemes. Montana’s Department of Labor and Industry issued its own scam warning around the same time (February 10); Montana was also cited in Oregon’s alert as a state where the scheme had reportedly spread, though Montana’s own posted warning describes a related but seemingly distinct email-phishing scheme rather than an identical match to the hearing/settlement-fee pattern seen elsewhere — worth treating as adjacent rather than confirmed identical.

By April, the pattern had reached Utah, where the state Labor Commission described it as a nationwide scam impersonating the Commission, its Industrial Accidents Division, and federal labor officials, with contact information for the Industrial Accidents Division published in follow-up local coverage. Industry publication WorkersCompensation.com’s April roundup tied the Utah, Oregon, Tennessee, and Texas warnings together as a single emerging national pattern. By late May and into June, North Carolina’s Industrial Commission and Attorney General Jeff Jackson issued a joint warning describing a multi-state operation using fake virtual hearings and official-looking communications, and Washington’s Attorney General issued a preemptive consumer alert in June specifically warning Spanish-speaking workers, noting that while no confirmed Washington cases had yet been reported, the scam’s spread across neighboring Pacific Northwest states warranted getting ahead of it. Minnesota’s Office of Administrative Hearings has also posted an undated alert covering the same pattern.

A July 31, 2026 roundup by claims-industry vendor Ethos Risk, drawing on the same state alerts along with additional reporting, adds two data points worth noting: Arizona’s Industrial Commission issued its own consumer alert (date not independently confirmed in this review) describing the identical impersonation tactics, and Illinois’s Workers’ Compensation Commission is described as continuing to maintain a public alert about scammers posing as judges, attorneys, and state employees, though this review was not able to independently locate that specific IWCC alert page to confirm its current content firsthand.

State agencies and industry sources recommend a consistent set of precautions: legitimate workers’ compensation benefits and settlements never require an upfront payment before funds are released; state agencies do not contact claimants by text message, video call, or social media to request money or schedule a hearing; requests for payment via gift card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency are a strong indicator of fraud; and any suspicious communication should be verified using independently sourced contact information for the relevant state agency, not a phone number, email, or link contained in the suspicious message itself. The Federal Trade Commission maintains general guidance on recognizing government-impersonation scams that applies to this pattern as well.