Frauds & Scams

Inspector General Warns Public About Caller ID “Spoofing” of Social Security Fraud Hotline Phone Number

April 2, 2019 • By

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Last Updated: April 2, 2019

The Inspector General of Social Security, Gail S. Ennis, is warning citizens about a caller-ID “spoofing” scheme misusing the Social Security Administration (SSA) Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) Fraud Hotline phone number. The OIG has received recent reports of phone calls displaying the Fraud Hotline number on a caller-ID screen. This is a scam; OIG employees do not place outgoing calls from the Fraud Hotline 800 number. Citizens should not engage with these calls or provide personal information.

SSA and OIG employees do contact citizens by telephone for official purposes, and they may request the citizen confirm personal information over the phone. However, the calls do not appear on caller ID as the Fraud Hotline number of (800) 269-0271. Also, SSA and OIG employees will never threaten you for information or promise any type of official action in exchange for personal information or payment.  In those cases, the call is fraudulent, and you should just hang up.

If you receive a suspicious call from someone alleging to be from SSA or OIG, you should report that information to the OIG online at https://oig.ssa.gov/report or by calling (800) 269-0271, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern Time. You can also report these scams to the Federal Trade Commission through a new site specific to Social Security scams:  https://identitytheft.gov/ssa

See the full advisory at the OIG website.

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About the Author

Andrew Cannarsa, OIG Communications Director

Andrew Cannarsa, OIG Communications Director

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Comments

  1. Celeste

    Have gotten several calls this morning from 1-315-878-7558 number and left robo vm each time. Telling me to contact SSA at 315-878-7558. I deleted and have not returned the call.

    • A.C.

      Thanks for letting us know, Celeste. 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.

  2. SABRINA R.

    At approxiamately 1230pm today, I recieved a call which was automated stating that legal action is being taken against my social security number and to call 800-923-9683 for assistance. The tone was quite eery and alarming. I did not call the number. Had a prior call indicating fraud was attempted with my social security number. I called the number and they wanted to confirm my SSN and birthday. I did not comply and hung up. I did not save the number (sorry).

    • A.C.

      Hi, Sabrina. 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. Thanks, again.

  3. Nancy W.

    Today have received a dozen Robo calls claiming to be from SSA saying my SS number has been suspended due to suspicious activity. Calls came from: 888 113-6561, 888 462-5465, 888 414-3524.

    • A.C.

      Thanks for letting us know, Nancy. 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.

  4. Paulette S.

    Today at approximately 2:15 PM I received a call from 1 (800) 862-6213 the voice message identified themselves as the Social Security Administration, stating that my social security number had been flagged with fraudulent activity, and is marked to be deleted. I followed the prompts, a gentlemen answered and asked for my social security number. I stated Please put me on your DO NOT CALL LIST and he responded “Okay Mother F….
    I am reporting this horrible call. There has to be something done to protect our elderly communities. I can speak and fend for myself, thank God…but what about others who are left prey to this kind of activity.

    • A.C.

      Thanks for letting us know, Paulette. 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.

  5. Jeanne M.

    Thank you for this information, I just received a phone call from a person with a Indian accent telling me that my ssn had been suspended. Then he said that he needed my ssn to confirm that the number they had was correct. I advised him that under NO circumstances would I give him my number and so he hung up on me.
    Reading your comments eased my state of mind since I could not get the correct information on the telephone,

  6. Thea R.

    Just received one of these fraudulent phone calls saying my SS# has been suspended. Yeah sure it has! Call was from Vermont 1-802-218-6137. I know it was a scam as SS does not make phone calls. It was a recorded message. Tried getting through to the SS phone # to report but was on hold for over 1/2 hour.
    These scammers need to be stopped.

    • A.C.

      Hi, Thea. Thanks for letting us know. Suspicious calls can also be reported to the Office of the Inspector General 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.

  7. Norma S.

    I received such a call today. I hung up providing no information

    • L.A.

      Thanks for checking in with us, Norma. 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. If you suspect someone is using your Social Security number, you should go to http://www.idtheft.gov and report the theft to the Federal Trade Commission or call 1-877-IDTHEFT (1-877-438-4338). In addition, you can order free credit reports annually from the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and Trans Union). To order your credit report go to http://www.annualcreditreport.com or call 1-877-322-8228. For more information, check out our publication, Identity Theft And Your Social Security Number. We hope this helps

  8. Kathy D.

    I received a call saying my social security number had been suspended for suspicious activity and to hold for representative. No one answered

  9. Jay S.

    I receive on a daily basis at least one phishing scam phone call purporting to be from SSA. I should be able to simply report the numbers as they appear on my cell phone. Instead, there is a long cumbersome fraud report that has to be filled out each time I want to report a telephone number. There should be a simpler way to report a scam phone number, without having to take 15 to 20 minutes to fill out a form. Perhaps people who are being annoyed with these scam calls can initially fill out a form, given a pin number, and then have a web page where they can go to simply enter the scam number and their pin. (I suggest a pin number so that the social security number is not revealed over insecure internet protocols.) If SSA is serious about dealing with these scams, then an obvious place to start are the phone numbers of scam callers. But it is a deterrent to report these numbers when the reporting method is long, cumbersome, time-consuming, and involves much more effort than just receiving the scam calls. Please simplify the method for reporting scam calls. Thank you.

  10. Vida T.

    I received a call from this number 201-660-0271 from closter New Jersey stating he was the police and they was going to start a claim against me for suspicious activity on my Social Security number I need to call that number right away so I was going to be prosecuted is this number legit I will the police for Social Security call my phone

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