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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHere's how a growing Social Security impostor scam works
To scammers, your Social Security number is gold-plated and diamond-encrusted asset, and now they have a new way to try to steal yours and get paid.
Consumer advocates are raising an alert about a twist to an old impostor phone scam. It's called the "Social Security impostor scam." A blog at the Federal Trade Commission recently wrote: "In the shady world of government, the SSA scam may be the new IRS scam."
Here's how it works:
You get a call with a warning that your Social Security number has been suspended because of suspicious activity or because it's been used in a crime. You are asked to confirm you number or told you need to withdraw money from the bank and buy gift cards.
The phone call may be a robocaller with a message to "press 1" to speak with a "support representative" from the government to reactivate your Social Security number. The scammers use technology to spoof your Caller ID to make it look like the Social Security Administration is really calling.
In the last 12 months, people filed more than 76,000 complaints about Social Security impostors, reporting $19 million in losses. The median reported loss last year was $1,500, the FTC said.
People are asked to give up the personal identification numbers (PINs) on the back of gift cards or use virtual currencies like Bitcoin to pay. (According to the FTC's consumer alert, people withdrew money and fed cash into Bitcoin automatic teller machines.)
After handing over the gift card numbers to the "Social Security office," one consumer interviewed by Fraud.org was told he would receive a refund equal to the amount he paid to unfreeze his account from the Federal Reserve. Of course, the refund never came and the man lost nearly $20,000.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/personalfinance/heres-how-a-growing-social-security-impostor-scam-works/ar-AABlpj1?li=BBnbfcN
drray23
(7,619 posts)and those despicable con artists take advantage of that.
katmondoo
(6,454 posts)They are the scammers
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,325 posts)I get a lot of scam calls apparently from my area code and my exchange. Neighbors, obviously. Or not.
GoCubsGo
(32,075 posts)Just the "gift card" part of it should be the biggest red flag in existence. I can't believe that there are people out there who believe the federal government would take payments in the form of gift cards.
USALiberal
(10,877 posts)Kaleva
(36,259 posts)tanyev
(42,523 posts)DemoTex
(25,391 posts)I wonder why.
Dave Starsky
(5,914 posts)They are ripe for the harvest.
We found out just the other day that "The Wall Crowdfunding" thing was a rip-off scam. You would have to be almost too stupid to live to have fallen for that one.
FakeNoose
(32,599 posts)... if the caller's name is undisclosed or hidden. Most of these scams are robo-dailed and they might even be masking a foreign origin. But even when they are domestic origin, don't answer if the caller doesn't have an ID name that you recognize.
zipplewrath
(16,646 posts)I'm probably the last person whose land line doesn't have caller ID.
FakeNoose
(32,599 posts)Your phone service probably sends a digital code telling you who the caller is, but maybe your old-style phone doesn't display it? If so, you should consider investing in a new digital phone because they don't cost much. Most are under $50 and they hook into your landline and give you a cordless receiver. Most units have a voicemail messaging system included in the set too.
So caller ID is a requirement these days, given all the scams and spam callers. You can screen them out and only answer the ones you want to receive. With caller ID it's possible to block certain numbers too, or send them immediately to voicemail.
zipplewrath
(16,646 posts)I've got a digital phone, I just don't pay for caller ID (the local phone company still charges separately for it). Quite honestly, the landlines days are numbered.
Wounded Bear
(58,605 posts)I have to keep reminding myself:
THE SS ADMINISTRATION DOES NOT COLD CALL PEOPLE ABOUT THEIR ACCOUNTS!!!!!
Much like the IRS, I'm pretty sure it is illegal for them to do that.
Tracer
(2,769 posts)A few years ago I got a call from an SS person hesitantly asking for [my name]. When I said "this is she", with a sigh of relief, she then told me that my SS account had me listed as deceased.
Apparently, my SS number was incorrectly listed as belonging to long-ago railroad workers.
It was all straightened out fairly easily.
ooky
(8,908 posts)Trump voters.
safeinOhio
(32,641 posts)I'll come right down now and check on it. Good by.
Xolodno
(6,384 posts)...plus the one's for Apple...and I don't own ANY Apple products, plus the Microsoft scam. The last thing they hear before the dial tone is me laughing.
demigoddess
(6,640 posts)they knew we had 2 in the house. Talk about invasion of privacy!!