The Social Security Administration is warning the public that scammers are continuing to target people posing at SSA officials, with a couple of new twists.
Jack Myers, a Public Affairs Specialist for the Social Security Administration says they still receive calls on a daily basis to report messages or phone calls from scammers pretending to represent Social Security.
Myers says there is a variety of different forms scammers take to try and get people’s information. He says typically scammers call stating there is a problem with your social security number or account. He says they are using new tricks to make their calls more believable.
“They can manipulate caller ID so they can make it look like the call is coming from an official source so you really can’t trust that. So don’t Google the phone number that a call came from on your caller ID and trust that you feel confident that it officially did come from that source.”
Meyers says scammers are also using new methods to sound valid once they have you on the phone.
“Another thing to look for is, sometimes what they have started to do in recent months is once they have you on the phone they will offer to email you documents to support their claims and you don’t want to trust that either because they can make stuff up, make up some documents and email them. It’s easier to email you something than to actually put something in U.S. Postal Service and put something in the official mail, so don’t trust emails that you get.”
Meyers says if you receive a call like this to hang up and do not give them information or money. You can report scams by going to the Social Security Administration’s website at oig.ssa.gov, or by calling toll free at 1-800-772-1213.