The 4 Most 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 identify in fraudulent cellphone calls, texts, emails, and letters. Their schemes usually contain impersonating the Social Safety Administration as a way 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

When the Nationwide Council on Growing old introduced its “Scams to Watch Out For” in 2019, bogus cellphone calls associated to Social Safety advantages topped the listing. The Federal Commerce Fee (FTC) says the variety of such calls and their monetary affect is “rising exponentially.”

The calls typically contain folks—or robotic voices—pretending to be from the Social Safety Administration (SSA) who attempt to get your Social Safety quantity or demand cash, based on the FTC. The company warns that callers typically use “spoofing” methods to make the real Social Safety hotline quantity (1-800-772-1213) seem on the recipient’s caller ID display. The caller may determine themselves utilizing the identify of an precise SSA official.

The SSA says the language utilized in these calls has turn into “more and more threatening” lately. The caller usually states that resulting from improper or criminal activity with the individual’s Social Safety quantity or account, they are going to be arrested or face different authorized motion except they name a specific 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 at all times 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 if you happen to fail to supply info,” the company says. “In [such] circumstances 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, based on the Workplace of the Inspector Common 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 kind of rip-off name makes an attempt to promote to the recipient providers 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 document of Social Safety contributions so far, together with the anticipated future earnings they may yield. 

3. Pretend Electronic mail Headers and Phishing

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

The motive is to acquire private info from you, which you need to by no means present. The identical clues of fraudulent intent as with the cellphone calls apply right here. The SSA says that reliable 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 diminished the quantity of Social Safety fraud by mail, the apply has not completely vanished. One such scheme is a unsolicited mail rip-off that primarily targets older folks

A letter comes within the mail providing an additional test, together with a type asking for private info and a submitting price. In it, the scammer asks the recipient for a Social Safety quantity, cash, and/or checking account info to assist with the appliance.

Once more, this can be a pink flag. The Social Safety Administration won’t ever ask in your full Social Safety quantity, as a result of it already is aware of it. Within the occasion the SSA does ship you a letter—for instance, when your advantages improve—it can by no means ask you for cash or another private info.

How you can Shield Your self From Social Safety Fraud

As with all scams, one of the best ways to keep away from turning into a sufferer is to remain vigilant. If you happen to obtain a cellphone name asking in your Social Safety quantity or different private info, it’s finest to hold up instantly. You might also need to take into account including the caller’s cellphone quantity to a blocked-call listing to assist forestall repeated nuisance calls.

Bear in mind, nonetheless, that spoofing permits scammers to make use of (or no less than 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 moderately than simply placing them within the trash. If you happen to entry Social Safety info on-line, maintain your password to your self and alter it commonly to attenuate the chance of your account being hacked.

It is also price checking your credit score experiences regularly to ensure nobody has compromised your monetary info. A paid credit score monitoring service may additionally be useful. Lastly, attempt to maintain updated with the most recent Social Safety scams. The SSA’s Workplace of the Inspector Common displays these and points warnings as new schemes come up.

How you can Report a Social Safety Rip-off

If you happen to suspect you’ve been the sufferer of a rip-off or just need to report calls or correspondence that you simply discover suspicious, you have got a number of choices. You may name your native authorities or the OIG hotline (1-800-269-0271) or submit a fraud report on the OIG’s web site.

You may as well report the rip-off on the FTC’s grievance web site. Be sure to doc something you’ll be able to so as to add to your report, comparable to a phone quantity or web site, the identify the caller gave, the time and date of the decision or e mail, what info you have been requested for, and anything that may assist determine the scamster.