4 Common Social Security Scams and How to Avoid Them

With some 65 million People receiving Social Safety advantages, it is not stunning that rip-off artists invoke this system’s title in fraudulent cellphone calls, texts, emails, and letters. Their schemes sometimes contain impersonating the Social Safety Administration (SSA) to be able to get hold of, after which misuse, Social Safety numbers (SSNs) and different private info. Right here’s a rundown, by mode of supply, of frequent Social Safety scams, together with the steps to take to keep away from and report them.

1. Fraudulent Threatening Telephone Calls

Bogus cellphone calls associated to Social Safety advantages are among the many prime scams. The calls usually contain folks—or robotic voices—pretending to be from the Social Safety Administration who attempt to get your Social Safety quantity or demand cash, in response to the Federal Commerce Fee (FTC). The company warns that callers generally use “spoofing” methods to make the real Social Safety hotline quantity (1-800-772-1213) seem on the recipient’s caller ID display screen. The caller may additionally determine themselves utilizing the title of an precise SSA official.

The SSA says the language utilized in these calls has grow to be “more and more threatening” in recent times. The caller sometimes states that because of improper or criminality with the individual’s Social Safety quantity or account, they are going to be arrested or face different authorized motion except they name a selected cellphone quantity to deal with the difficulty.

The tone of such calls is itself an indicator that they’re fraudulent. The SSA does contact some recipients by cellphone, however they’re nearly all the time individuals who have present enterprise with the company. And an SSA worker will “by no means threaten you for info; they won’t state that you simply face potential arrest or different authorized motion should you fail to supply info,” the company says. “In [such] instances the decision is fraudulent.”

In a comparatively new spin on this rip-off, criminals at the moment are sending threatening textual content messages purporting to be from Social Safety. However, in response to the Workplace of the Inspector Normal at SSA, “Social Safety won’t ever ship a textual content asking for a return name to an unknown quantity. Social Safety will solely ship textual content messages if in case you have opted in to obtain texts from the company and solely in restricted conditions.”

2. Fraudulent Pleasant Service Telephone Calls

One other sort of rip-off name makes an attempt to promote to the recipient companies the SSA readily offers at no cost. The caller would possibly, for instance, provide to supply a brand new Social Safety card, enroll a brand new member of the family in this system, or present a report of Social Safety contributions so far, together with the anticipated future earnings they are going to yield.

3. Faux Emails and Phishing

Victims can be reeled in by “phishing” emails that seem like messages from the SSA. The emails could have attachments that resemble precise letters from the SSA, full with the company’s seal and related font kinds. The e-mail messages may additionally direct readers to a pretend net web page designed to appear like the true SSA web site.

The motive is to acquire private info from you, which you must by no means present. The identical clues of fraudulent intent as with the cellphone calls apply right here. The SSA says that professional emails from the company by no means search private info and don’t undertake an alarmist or threatening tone.

4. Social Safety Fraud by Mail

Whereas the rise of scams perpetrated electronically, and thus cheaply, has lowered the amount of Social Safety fraud by mail, the follow has not fully vanished. One such scheme is a unsolicited mail rip-off that primarily targets older folks.

A letter, showing to be from an SSA official and on SSA letterhead, comes within the mail and asks the recipient to name a toll-free quantity to activate a rise in advantages, similar to a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). Once more, this can be a purple flag. COLA will increase are automated and require no motion to provoke. Within the occasion the SSA does ship you a letter—for instance, when your advantages improve—it can by no means ask you for any private info.

Methods to Shield Your self From Social Safety Fraud

As with all scams, one of the simplest ways to keep away from changing into a sufferer is to remain vigilant. If you happen to obtain a cellphone name asking to your Social Safety quantity or different private info, it’s finest to hold up instantly. You may additionally wish to contemplate including the caller’s cellphone quantity to a blocked-call listing to assist forestall repeated nuisance calls.

Remember, nevertheless, that spoofing permits scammers to make use of (or a minimum of show to you) a succession of deceptive numbers. So, sadly, blocking the primary quantity that known as you would not cease additional calls from totally different cellphone numbers.

Ensure that your info, together with your Social Safety card, is saved securely. Shred any paperwork with delicate info reasonably than simply placing them within the trash. If you happen to entry Social Safety info on-line, hold your password to your self and alter it frequently to reduce the probability of your account being hacked.

It is also price checking your credit score studies frequently to verify nobody has compromised your monetary info. A paid credit score monitoring service may also be useful. Lastly, attempt to hold updated with the most recent Social Safety scams. The SSA’s Workplace of the Inspector Normal (OIG) screens these and points warnings as new schemes come up.

Methods to Report a Social Safety Rip-off

If you happen to suspect you’ve been the sufferer of a rip-off or just wish to report calls or correspondence that you simply discover suspicious, you could have a number of choices. You possibly can name the OIG hotline (1-800-269-0271) or submit a fraud report on the OIG’s web site utilizing the net SSA Rip-off Reporting Kind.

You may as well report the rip-off on the FTC’s criticism web site. Be sure you doc something you may so as to add to your report, similar to a phone quantity or web site, the title the caller gave, the time and date of the decision or electronic mail, what info you had been requested for, and the rest that may assist determine the fraudster.