Social Security Fraud Scheme Warning Issued

The Social Security Administration is warning residents to beware of a new scheme involving people impersonating employees of the Social Security Administration.

According to a news release from the acting Inspector General of Social Security, Gale Stallworth Stone, citizens across the U.S. have been reporting phone calls from a person who claims to be an employee of the Social Security Administration who tries to coax personally identifiable information from victims to then divert their Social Security payments.

In some instances the caller tells the victim they are due a 1.7 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increase to their Social Security benefits, then asks the victim to "verify" all of their personal information including their name, date of birth, Social Security number (SSN), parents’ names, etc. to receive the increase.

However, the caller is using the information to contact SSA and request changes to the victim’s direct deposit, address, and telephone information, to divert payments from the victim to the impersonator.

The reports indicate that the impersonator calls from a telephone number with a 323 area code, according to the news release circulated by 9th District legislators Christopher Connors, Brian Rumpf and Dianne Gove.

Social Security Administration employees occasionally contact citizens by telephone for customer-service purposes. Very rarely will a Social Security Administration employee ask someone to confirm personal information over the phone.

If you receive a suspicious call from someone claiming to be with the Social Security Administration, report the information to the OIG at 1-800-269-0271 or online via https://oig.ssa.gov/report.

The Social Security Administration continues to warn citizens to be cautious, and to avoid providing information such as your Social Security number or bank account numbers to someone over the phone or internet unless you are certain of who is receiving it.

“You must be very confident that the source is the correct business party, and your information will be secure after you release it,” Stone said.

If you have questions about any communication — email, letter, text or phone call — that claims to be from the Social Security Administration or the Office of the Inspector General, please contact your local Social Security office, or call Social Security’s toll-free customer service number at 1-800-772-1213, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, to verify its legitimacy. (Those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can call Social Security’s TTY number at 1-800-325-0778.)

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