Living in a heavily digitized world should make our lives easier, right? One side effect of increased digital convenience is a huge uptick in scams. If you want to prevent yourself from being a statistic, we urge you to be cautious when giving your sensitive information over the internet or phone.
Currently, there is a massive scam where callers impersonate as Social Security employees. These scammers are sophisticated enough that the caller ID will even show the real SSA number which is 800-772-1213. During these calls, scammers will usually tell you that your benefits will be cut, stopped or your bank accounts will be seized.
Rest assured, it is important to remember that Social Security will never call to threaten your benefits or ask you to send money. Here is what the Federal Trade Commission wants you to know about the current Social Security Scam:
- Your Social Security number is not going to get to be suspended. You don’t have to verify your Social Security number to anyone who calls out of the blue, and your bank accounts will not be seized.
- SSA will never call to threaten your benefits or tell you to wire money, send cash, or put money on gift cards. Anyone who tells you to do those things is a scammer — every time.
- The real SSA number is 1-800-772-1213, but scammers are putting that number in the caller ID. If you’re worried about what the caller says, hang up and call 1-800-772-1213 to speak to the real SSA. Even if the wait time is long, confirm with the real SSA before responding to one of these calls.
- Never give any part of your Social Security number, bank account numbers, or credit card numbers to anyone who contacts you.
- You can Click here to hear what a Social Security scam call sounds like.
If you ever get a call that seems suspicious, HANG UP! You can always re-gather your thoughts and call back the official number. If you have experienced this scam, feel free to reach out, we are interested in hearing your story.