There are different types of social security fraud and scams. But today I will talk about the scams against the retired folks receiving social security. In today’s world, scammers are everywhere. We find them in our phones and our emails and snail mail.
A social security scam is when an impersonator of the federal government social security department attempts to get information about your social security. The data is used for identity theft, to steal your social security income or to get credit card information from you.
No matter how they accomplish the process, the result is a nightmare for the elderly and retired population.
There are 3 basic types of social security scams:
- Phone Calls
- Letters
- Emails
1. Phone Calls
The person calling you will impersonate a social security government employee. They may say you are entitled to an increase in your monthly social security, and they need to verify your information or you to receive your first increase. They will request you to confirm your name, date of birth, social security number, and bank account information. You just had your identity stolen, and they can access all of your data or use your information to change their identity.
A person calls again impersonating a government employee and tells you there is a discrepancy in the information you have submitted to the social security office and they need to verify your name, birth date, social security number, and bank account information. Or they may tell you that the computers messed up and the information was not transmitted e the properly. They say you will not get your next check until you completed the process and it will expedite the process if you do it over the phone. You have the have this money, and because you are scared, it won’t come you give them the information.
Scammers can use many different ways to convince you on the phone to give them your information. Scamming you is what they do best and how they make their money. They steal your money.
2. Letters By Mail
You may receive a letter in the mail with the US social security government seal at the top. It looks legitimate with the seal. It may state that the government is suspending your social security due to misinformation. You need to follow the link on the letter to go online to give the correct information. Again, your social security is yours, so you hurry to the computer, follow the link and fill in the report and the dishonest thieves now have your identity information.
You may have received a letter with all the right logos that said you are going to get a cost of living increase. You are excited, and without thinking, you go directly to the computer and fill out all of the information.
3. Emails
You receive an email with all of the right logos and symbols just like the social security office of the government. It has a link to click on to give the correct information for you to resume your social security. You click on the link and fill in your bank information, name, birth date, and social security, and you are well on your way to a nightmare. A living nightmare on retrieving your identity and recovering your money that stolen from your bank account.
We refer to emails requesting this type of information as a phishing scam. It is just like it sounds; the scammers are fishing for information.
It is not just a phone call and letters. Scammers will devise any way possible to deceive you into obtaining your identity information.
How To Recognize A Scam
- Social security will not call you on the phone and ask for personal information
- Social security will not send you an email and ask for personal information
- Social security may send you a letter. (how to handle this further down)
- If you are pressured to give information now, it is a scam
- If it feels wrong, then it is wrong
- Never, I mean NEVER EVER give out any personal information on the phone or in an email link.
- If you a person asks you for information on the phone, hang up and go directly to the social security web site to see if it is legit. Social Administration [US]
- If you are asked in an email to click on a link, don’t do it. Go directly to the Social Administration [US] to your account to see if there are any messages and take care of it through that site.
- If you receive a letter that looks official, do not use the link in that letter. Always go to your account to log in.
Phone Calls-What To Do
- Set up a social security account online that you can go to to check out the validity of the claim.
- Gather all of the information you can about the call.
- The name if they give you one
- The phone number on your caller ID
- What kind of information did the caller ask for
- The time of day and the date
- Any other information such as background noise and the nationality of the caller
Reporting The Incident
Any information you can obtain is important when reporting to the authorities. Report all scam attempts to the Inspector General’s Office online or phone, fax, or mail
- Inspector General’s Office online, if you are not comfortable clicking on this link go directly to the Inspector Generals Office on google.
- Telephone: 1-800-269-0271 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time
- FAX: 410-597-0118
- U.S. Mail: Social Security Fraud Hotline
P.O. Box 17785
Baltimore, Maryland 21235
Remember the saying, “If it doesn’t feel right, then it isn’t right. Be safe and never give information over the phone or click a link in an email. Go directly to the social security government office to check out the situation.
Your identity and your social security income belong to you, and no one else. Hang onto it.
Please share this information with your parents and grandparents. Make them aware of the dangers that lurk in the world today. Help them be safe.
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Oh these scammers. In Canada there is always a big income tax scam going around very similar to the Social Security scams. There was a big scam exposed in India where an entire call center was set up and making these calls. Unfortunately the ring leader wasnt caught so it likely moved on to another call center because the calls have never stopped.Thank you for writing such a great and important article
Oh yes, they are everywhere. It is good to be aware of what to watch for. That ring of leaders probably broke up and made more call centers all over the world.
It’s a shame how tricky thieves try to steal the last dollar of elderly people.
Luckily I don’t have to rely on social security but even people like me can get addressed with identity theft like that.
I find it very helpful that you publish warnings like this, I’ll share it with everyone I know that could be in danger of these scams, thanks.
Thank you for sharing. The more we reach the better-informed everyone will be. And the elderly are, particularly at risk. The thieves seem to target them first.
I find in general it is the older generations that get caught up in all of this! Young people are a little more internet and phone smart and probably less trustworthy than our older generation.
So when they receive a letter or a phone call they tend to trust people more often, because in the old days you could trust people to do the right thing more often. This was probably because towns were smaller, word got around if you played up and did wrong to somebody.
And social security scams can really catch unaware victims out, they normally say who is calling, they are from social security, and they probably subject fear into their subject by saying your payments will cease or be affected if you do not take action now.
I hate these low life scammers, preying on easy prey to steal from. It seems more and more these days scams are getting craftier with globalization. You can be anywhere in the world now and not even be traced.
Watch out there, they are coming to get you! Thanks for the tips.
Kris, you are so right about how they scare the elderly. And the elderly are not as internet savvy and would rather get the information done on the phone. So they give out their identity to these low life scammers.
It is appalling that people stoop so low as to come up with schemes to steal from the elderly. Disgusting! I am so pleased that you created such a post to help people understand the risks and what they can do to avoid being scammed. I seem to get calls every day that my tax account is arrears and that I need to return a call immediately or risk going to jail. Last time I checked, if I did have issues with my taxes, we don’t get thrown in jail for having arrears. There would be letters and notices before it ever came to that point. Do you know if call blocking ever works on these scammers? Keep up the good work
You know Paul that is a good question. Call blocking works for one number but the scammers change the appearance of the number and can call right back with a different number. I have blocked up to 20 numbers a day and they tend to call more often. It is appalling indeed.
Thanks for this informative post about social security scam, I have happened to come across things like this, they told me something was wrong with the system and they did an upgrade and they will need me to send them my account details as well as my credit card details and password for the issue to be rectified, I got the name of the person and reported to the authority it happens to be that it was a stolen Identity. We all do need to be careful here dealing with online scam
Thank you for sharing because this is exactly what happens and how they get that information. Be sure to share this article with anyone who may benefit from this knowledge. Again thank you so much.