Social Security Imposters: The #1 Phone Scam

Scammers try to leverage two basic emotions to con their innocent victims: greed and fear. Greed is at the heart of “get rich quick” schemes and “you’ve won a lottery or sweepstakes” scams. To exploit people’s fear, con artists will try to convince their victims that they owe back taxes, or that they haven’t paid some fake government debt. They often threaten that the sheriff or some other government agent is on their way to their house to arrest them unless they immediately pay up. Other times, they may claim that there is some “problem” that will affect a person’s rightfully earned government benefits.

But recently, scammers have rolled out a new swindle— a Social Security imposter “robocall” which says that your Social Security number and benefits are about to be suspended. If you get a call like this, the solution is simple: Do not press a number key on your phone, as the robocall directs. Instead, just hang up, and remember:

• Your Social Security number is not about to be suspended.
• The real Social Security Administration (SSA) will never call to threaten your benefits.
• The real Social Security Administration will not ask you on the phone for personal information like your Social Security number or bank account number.
• The real Social Security Administration will never tell you to wire money, send cash, or put money on a gift card.

The Federal Trade Commission warns that “crooks use clever schemes to defraud millions of people every year. They often combine sophisticated technology with age-old tricks to get people to send money or give out personal information. They add new twists to old schemes and pressure people to make important decisions on the spot. One thing that never changes: they follow the headlines—and the money.” The Social Security Administration scam is the number one scam reported to the FTC right now. People filed nearly 73,000 reports about Social Security imposters in the first six months of last year, with reported losses of $17 million.

While the details may vary, the unknown caller will likely attempt to acquire your personal information, like your Social Security number or your bank account number, which the crook will then use to steal your identity. With this personal data the scammer could then rack up thousands of dollars on credit cards taken out in your name or could ransack your bank account. Clearing up your finances after your identity has been stolen is a slow and frustrating process.

The SSA says, “OIG [Office of the Inspector General] investigators occasionally contact citizens by telephone for investigative purposes, but they will not request sensitive personal information [like a Social Security number or bank account number] from a citizen over the phone. If a person receives a similar suspicious call from someone alleging to be from the OIG, citizens may report that information to the OIG at 1-800-269-0271 or online via https://oig.ssa.gov/report.

If a person has questions about any communication—email, letter, text or phone call—that claims to be from SSA or the OIG, please contact your local Social Security office, or call Social Security’s toll-free customer service number at 1-800-772-1213, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, to verify its legitimacy. (Those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can call Social Security’s TTY number at 1-800-325-0778.)”