IG Warns Public About Fraudulent Phone Calls Threatening Arrest or Legal Action
Reading Time: 2 MinutesLast Updated: December 7, 2018
The Acting Inspector General of Social Security, Gale Stallworth Stone, is urging citizens to remain vigilant of telephone impersonation schemes that exploit the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) reputation and authority.
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) continues to receive reports from across the country about fraudulent phone calls from people claiming to be from SSA. Recent reports have indicated that unknown callers are using increasingly threatening language in these calls. The callers state, due to improper or illegal activity with a citizen’s Social Security number (SSN) or account, a citizen will be arrested or face other legal action if they fail to call a provided phone number to address the issue. This is a scam; citizens should not engage with these calls or provide any personal information.
SSA employees do contact citizens, generally those who have ongoing business with SSA, by telephone for customer-service purposes. However, SSA employees will never threaten you for information; they will not state that you face potential arrest or other legal action if you fail to provide information. In those cases, the call is fraudulent, and you should just hang up.
“Unfortunately, scammers will try anything to mislead and harm innocent people, including scaring them into thinking that something is wrong with their Social Security account and they might be arrested,” Stone said. “I encourage everyone to remain watchful of these schemes and to alert family members and friends of their prevalence. We will continue to track these scams and warn citizens, so that they can stay several steps ahead of these thieves.”
The OIG recently warned that some of these impersonation calls have “spoofed” SSA’s national customer service phone number, displaying 1-800-772-1213 as the incoming number on caller ID.
The Acting Inspector General urges citizens to be extremely cautious, and to avoid providing information such as your SSN or bank account numbers to unknown persons over the phone or internet unless you are certain of who is receiving it. If you receive a suspicious call from someone alleging to be from SSA, you should report that information to the OIG at 1-800-269-0271 or online at https://oig.ssa.gov/report.
For more information, please visit https://oig.ssa.gov/newsroom/scam-awareness. For media inquiries, please contact Andrew Cannarsa, OIG’s Communications Director, at (410) 965-2671.
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Andrew Cannarsa, OIG Communications Director
Andrew Cannarsa, OIG Communications Director
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Gloria W.
I just received call from 202 666 9990, saying from legal at ssa and freezing assets, and will arrest if I don’t answer questions from automated . so I hung up
Ann C.
Thanks for checking in with us, Gloria. We do not usually make random calls. If anyone receives calls saying that they are from Social Security, do not give out any personal information. Suspicious calls should be reported to the Office of the Inspector General at 1-800-269-0271 or online. You can also report these scams to the Federal Trade Commission through a new site specific to Social Security scams, here. Thanks, again.
Marilyn W.
Hello,
Recently, I received a phone call stating that it was SSA. I will be arrested for fraudulent activity! It’s NOT Social Security number, however, it really is upsetting to hear something like this being I know that I haven’t done anything wrong! Maybe it’s really SSA?
Thank you in advance,
M.L.Wolf
wolfmarilyn8@gmail.com
Ann C.
Hi, Marilyn. Thanks for checking in with us. We do not usually make random calls. If anyone receives calls saying that they are from Social Security, do not give out any personal information. Suspicious calls should be reported to the Office of the Inspector General at 1-800-269-0271 or online. You can also report these scams to the Federal Trade Commission through a new site specific to Social Security scams, here. We hope this helps.
Todd F.
I received a3 calls in last 24 hours similar to that described above from 866-563-9573.
Monica
I have received several calls in the last 2 weeks from different numbers but the same recording. They say they are coming to arrest me and my number is being suspended. The recording got saved in my voicemail. But I spoke to an “officer” today by pressing 1 and he said I was scamming with my social security number. I asked him who he was looking but he would not say.
So I finally told him, “I worked for the SSA.” Key word being “worked”. He became very angry and started yelling, “scammer scammer” and hung up. The call was irritating yet a bit hilarious. I texted the number he called from and advised them that they and the recorded voicemail were being reported to local and federal authorities as well as the Social Security Administration.
Luis A.
Hello Monica. Thank you for letting us know about these calls. We do not usually make random calls. If you or anyone receives calls saying that they are from Social Security, do not give out any personal information. Suspicious calls should be reported to the Office of the Inspector General at 1-800-269-0271 or online. You can also report these scams to the Federal Trade Commission through a new site specific to Social Security scams here. We hope this helps.
Deb
I just got a call from 800-770-8694. How can we stop them?
Ann C.
Thanks for checking in with us, Deb. We do not usually make random calls. If anyone receives calls saying that they are from Social Security, do not give out any personal information. Suspicious calls should be reported to the Office of the Inspector General at 1-800-269-0271 or online. You can also report these scams to the Federal Trade Commission through a new site specific to Social Security scams, here. We hope this helps.
Margaret K.
I just received one of these callS….the Caller ID was diffeent and they threatened me with arrest if I did not talk to one of their officers….I hung up BUT I called #69 and got the real phone number they were calling from and it 207-464-3512. I reported it to one phone company…but SSA needs to be aware of this…IT IS SCARY !!!!
Vonda V.
Hi Margaret. Thank you for letting us know about the call. Unfortunately there are some Social Security impersonation schemes that we are diligently warning citizens about. See our most recent blog post:
Inspector General Warns Public About Caller ID “Spoofing” of Social Security Fraud Hotline Phone Number
Suspicious calls should be reported to the Office of the Inspector General at 1-800-269-0271 or online at http://www.oig.ssa.gov/report. You can also report these scams to the Federal Trade Commission through a new site specific to Social Security scams here http://www.identitytheft.gov/SSA.
Christine E.
I just go one of these calls, and tried to do the correct thing by reporting it, but it was so involved and complicated, I gave up.
Sandie G.
I received a phone message stating social security administration would order a warrant for my address if i didn’t call the number back. I am assuming this is a hoax.
Ann C.
Hi, Sandie. Keep in mind we do not usually make random calls. If anyone receives calls saying that they are from Social Security, do not give out any personal information. Suspicious calls should be reported to the Office of the Inspector General at 1-800-269-0271 or online. You can also report these scams to the Federal Trade Commission through a new site specific to Social Security scams, here. Thanks!
Vickie J.
For fraudulent calls this goes to whom it may concern to handle these calls. I turned in one on Monday6May2019 getting a call at 10:56am from 979.316.4452 regarding actions to my SS# of fraudulent charges against me; however, I took these numbers of 866.593.1341 but not sure if I heard it correctly. Then, checking my messages I saw that I had on my voice mail yesterday Wed8May2019 I got another call from them at same 979 No. and basically said the same thing but to call them back at this no. of 979.316.4452, this call was 2 hours after the first one on Monday6May2019. I might not have suppose to do what I did next, but I called this number back but no one answered even though the line was running minutes on my phone, I didn’t say anything & finally I heard it hang up. No one said anything on the other line. Therefore, I am reporting this again to you whom takes care of this matter. This happened to me several times last year and now its doing it again. I will keep records of this until it stops or until I hear from the SS# office by mail or by the number I have on my contact list. Thank you for your information when I called your number and will be recording to you what I hear from them again of this number or any number I don’t recognize of this same matter. “Fraudelent Actions on my SS#”.
Luis A.
Hi Vickie. Thank you for letting us know about these calls. We do not usually make random calls. If you or anyone receives calls saying that they are from Social Security, do not give out any personal information. Suspicious calls should be reported to the Office of the Inspector General at 1-800-269-0271 or online. You can also report these scams to the Federal Trade Commission through a new site specific to Social Security scams here. We hope this helps.
VALERIE B.
I received a computer voice tell me that we need to hear from you there has been fraud and to avoid further legal action to call them back scam or not? My cell showed ID as Social Security Scam but still its unnerving..
Luis A.
Hi Valerie. Thank you for letting us know about these calls. We do not usually make random calls. If you or anyone receives calls saying that they are from Social Security, do not give out any personal information. Suspicious calls should be reported to the Office of the Inspector General at 1-800-269-0271 or online. You can also report these scams to the Federal Trade Commission through a new site specific to Social Security scams here. We hope this helps.