The Office of the Inspector General is warning the public AGAIN about new and even more clever attempts to scam seniors about their Social Security. You probably already know that Social Security will not contact you by phone if there is a problem. They will send you a letter by mail. But you may not know about the new and more clever emails that scammers are sending out, using government logos and official looking stationery.
Before I go further, here are two pieces of advice: 1) Hang up any calls claiming to be about your Social Security. JUST HANG UP. 2) Do not click on or respond to any emails seeming to come from Social Security about your benefits. Just delete the email or mark it spam. DO click on this URL or this URL to find out what to do in case you receive a questionable call or email.
Many people are embarrassed if they fall for a scam and so they don’t report it. But the minute you receive any call or email or even a suspicious piece of snail mail, you should tell you spouse or friend, report it to the police and absolutely do NOT ever send a gift card or wire transfer to Social Security or any other source that claims you must do this or lose benefits or be arrested. Now this all makes sense in the abstract, but what if you are at home, the phone rings, you don’t recognize the number (some scammers are using fake numbers that “say” FBI), so you answer it — just in case it might be something important. A real person is on the line. At first they are pleasant and helpful, but soon there are threats. “Your Social Security account has been hacked! I know you are suspicious, but this is very serious and you are at risk of losing your benefits!” JUST HANG UP. As hard as that might be to do, especially if the call sounded authentic, just do it. If they call back, hang up again. And then if you can, take down the number and report it on the Office of Inspector General’s website at https://oig.ssa.gov or go to this page https://oig.ssa.gov/report
If you have experienced this type of scam, please comment on this post so that others can learn from your experience. And talk to your friends and neighbors about it too. As scammers get more sophisticated, we all need to get more wary and careful as well!