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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Collen J.
HOW DO I KNOW IF THE CALL IS REAL OR NOT ?
Carol C.
Collen, SS, IRS will not call you unless you have contacted them and you are waiting for an answer or call back from them. Best to get a name or confirmation of some kind that they can use so you will know who they are for sure.
Dolores C.
Received two calls this day, 12/12/18, @ 8:19 & 10:28 am from Fostoria, OH, 1-419-701-4637, it was an electronic voice message. I have the voice message saved should you require it, but it basically stated that I was to return this call regarding my social security card,
etc, before sending this (my) case to the state court house.
Ray F.
Hi Dolores, thank you for checking in with us. Unfortunately, there are some Social Security impersonation schemes that we are warning citizens about.
See our two recent blog posts:
https://blog.ssa.gov/inspector-general-warns-public-about-oig-impersonation-schemes/
https://blog.ssa.gov/inspector-general-warns-public-about-caller-id-spoofing-scheme-misusing-ssa-customer-service-number/
If you have questions about any communication — email, letter, text or phone call — that claims to be from SSA, 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 (TTY number at 1-800-325-0778). You may also report the information to the OIG at 1-800-269-0271 or online via https://oig.ssa.gov/report.
Mary M.
someone called said they were the social security office and they would come out and arrest me if I didn’t call a number . which I did not call, Is that alright It was the second call I got, I will get the number If they call again. thank you
GEORGE L.
I have received numerous threatning calls from Officer GARY COLE supposedly with the SSA regarding pending proceedings against my SSA number. These calls are annoying and I would like them to go away. His number on my caller ID and in his message is 425-626-1931. Thank you for any help possible.
George L Perry
602-881-5194
Elizabeth F.
Have not received my new benefit form for 2019
Jana W.
These calls didn’t start until I applied for a replacement card, through the online service, as mine was destroyed. The calls started the next day! I suspect the SSA database had been compromised and we have all had our phone numbers lifted for these crooks to try and obtain our information through scare tactics. The caller ID shows the government agency and 800 number, as in the story above. When I answered, it was a computer generated voice wanting me to press 1 to speak to an agent. Nope! I went to the physical office and spoke to a person who verified it is a scam.
KOBI M.
THIS IS A POOR WAY TO INFORM THE PUBLIC. IT SHOULD BE A BOLD WARNING FLASHING ON THE HOME PAGE WITH A HYPERLINK DIRECTLY TO THIS PAGE. THE WAY IT IS POSTED ON THE SITE HAS MINIMAL EXPOSURE AND REQUIRES EFFORT TO FIND. THIS IS A SERIOUS ISSUE AND THE PUBLIC SHOULD BE OVERTLY INFORMED IN THE MOST OBVIOUS MANNER.
Jana
I agree! And it should be shared with every news outlet, AARP, and every financial outlet possible.
Carol C.
Great! It usually goes to voice mail. If they leave a message, then I’ll listen to the message then if I don’t recognize the number or it sounds suspicous, I just delete it!
Marc
AARP has warnings every month in their magazines and daily emails and daily on their website which has an entire separate area for scam information. If you’re a member and you don’t know that you have no room to criticize. This isn’t news it’s screamed out to us daily from every government agency you just aren’t paying attention. Your bank, credit card company, etc all tell you all the time too. Take a little responsibility for yourself maybe instead of blaming everyone else for not doing enough for you.
Sandra F.
Yesterday, Dec10 in the late afternoon, I received a call on my cell phone that my social security card was compromised. The female caller said to press #1. At that point I hung up because I figured it was a scam which I heard about was happening. I only wish that I would have written down the phone number before I hung up.
Ray F.
Hi Sandra, thank you for sharing this information. Unfortunately, there are some Social Security impersonation schemes that we are warning citizens about.
See our two recent blog posts:
https://blog.ssa.gov/inspector-general-warns-public-about-oig-impersonation-schemes/
https://blog.ssa.gov/inspector-general-warns-public-about-caller-id-spoofing-scheme-misusing-ssa-customer-service-number/
If you have questions about any communication — email, letter, text or phone call — that claims to be from SSA, 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 (TTY number at 1-800-325-0778). You may also report the information to the OIG at 1-800-269-0271 or online via https://oig.ssa.gov/report. Thanks!
Kevin E.
Don’t just warn scam phone call recipients, but aggressively pursue the perpetrators. These scammers are repeatedly violating federal law. Am I to believe that the federal government does not have the tools to shut down these scam operations? I believe that the SSA has neither the prioritization, leadership nor will to end this embarrassment to our government. Maybe you should consider handing the policing of this problem to the IRS.
Daniel s.
I had an appointment to go in and meet with a representative this is my first meeting for benefits. Someone called from the office today saying my appointment will now be over the phone due to shortage of personnel. They knew my scheduled time and date, And now scheduling to same day different time, and I’m no longer going in to see in person, they scheduled it for on the Phone, calling my home. . They gave me their name and phone number with extension, and noted I could call back that number to verify them since we were concerned will have their name with appropriate badge number. Is this norma?
Ray F.
Yes, Daniel. It is possible that we may have to change the appointment to a telephone interview.
Just as a reminder – Social Security Administration (SSA) employees occasionally contact citizens by telephone for customer-service purposes.
An SSA employee may call you in limited situations, such as if you’re applying for benefits or if you recently filed a claim or have other Social Security business that are pending.
In only a few limited special situations, usually already known to the citizen, an SSA employee may request the citizen to confirm personal information over the phone.
If a person receives a suspicious call from someone alleging to be from SSA, citizens may report that information to the OIG at 1-800-269-0271 or online via https://oig.ssa.gov/report.
Please call the number back and proceed to identify the person that called you as an SSA representative. Thanks!