Inspector General Warns Public About SSA Impersonation Schemes
Reading Time: 2 MinutesLast Updated: July 16, 2018
The Acting Inspector General of Social Security, Gale Stallworth Stone, is warning citizens about ongoing Social Security Administration (SSA) impersonation schemes. SSA and the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) have recently received several reports of suspicious phone calls claiming to be from SSA.
In one case, an automated recording states the person’s Social Security number (SSN) “has been suspended for suspicion of illegal activity,” and the person should contact a provided phone number immediately to resolve the issue. The call concludes by stating if the person does not contact the provided phone number, the person’s assets will be frozen until the alleged issue is resolved. In another case, a caller claims to be from “SSA headquarters” and waits for the person to provide personal information, such as an SSN, address, and date of birth. In January, the OIG shared similar information from the Federal Trade Commission, which reported an increase in reports of suspicious phone calls from people claiming to be SSA employees.
SSA employees occasionally contact citizens by telephone for customer-service purposes. In only a few limited special situations, usually already known to the citizen, an SSA employee may request the citizen confirm personal information over the phone. If a person receives a suspicious call from someone alleging to be from SSA, citizens should report that information to the OIG at 1-800-269-0271 or online via https://oig.ssa.gov/report.
Acting Inspector General Stone continues to warn citizens to be 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. “Be aware of suspicious calls from unknown sources, and when in doubt, contact the official entity to verify the legitimacy of the call,” Stone said.
If a person has questions about any communication—email, letter, text or phone call—that claims to be from SSA or the OIG, 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. (Those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can call Social Security’s TTY number at 1-800-325-0778.)
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Tags: fraud, Inspector General, Office of the Inspector General, OIG
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Andrew Cannarsa, OIG Communications Director
Andrew Cannarsa, OIG Communications Director
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Nadirah H.
Received several calls stating that my social security number would be suspended due to criminal activities. Also said that I would have to go to court before the Attorney General if I continued to ignore their calls.
A.C.
Hi, Nadirah. 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.
Ashley
I just received a call claiming to be the SSA. It was an automated message requesting a call back and that I was showing fraudulent activity on my s.s number. The number was 833-325-6948. The message also sounded choppy.
Issac T.
Why and how can the government let family members commit serious crimes against their families and don’t anything be done about it when you inform them of the act that taken place
John E.
I recently became a victim of this Social Security scam, I was called at my home by someone claiming to be a representative from your agency informing me that someone had used my SS number to rent a car in Houston Texas and also open several bank accounts. also a car was found empty with blood stains that was rented with my identification. That a warrant was issued in federal court in Houston federal court for my arrest. I also got a call from someone claiming to be a New City Police officer in my area telling me that he was coming to take me on the warrant from Texas.
A.C.
Hi, John. 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.
M S.
I received two calls from (781) 328-2741
The exact message was:
This call is from the Department of social security administration the reason you have received this call from our department is to inform you that we just suspend you Social Security number because we found some suspicious activity so if you want to know about this case just press one thank you…
A.C.
Thanks for letting us know. 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.
Kevin D.
I was called on May 17th 2019 at 6:04 p.m. by person say they were from the Social Security ministration and then some issues with my number being used and that if I didn’t try to take care of this my number be Frozen and I have all kinds of problems but then attempted to ask me for my name I gave it to him then the social security number which I didn’t and then he was a little ask me it said that I would appear as if there was a bunch of shit going on in the state of Texas with my information has Brian ever been to Texas he said hang on a minute let me hold for 10 seconds it seem like you that you never been to Texas and you didn’t do nothing wrong day being skandar number is being used fraudulently so what I need you to do is spend a minute with me I need to collect a little bit of additional person information from you and try to help you and that’s what I just hung up. Yesterday Monday May 20th 10:34 a.m. call comes and my caller ID says United States government and you know the phone number is 931-7075 and it says United States government so I called it and then explain to me scams going on and then obviously the criminals for scammers have learned how to clone that number and that way it appears as if they’re good people calling from Brussels to Administration I again my number he has my social security number and name to try to help me fix it and I said bro yo I’ll tell you this here’s my name somebody just call me Friday and we will should I know I believe this is too and my credit so jacked up from a divorce and some other shit that had happened yeah the past couple years I don’t believe you could get a piece of bubblegum on my credit so I’d say have it and my numbers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 but I’m getting calls from somebody wanting my information I have gotten untold amounts of calls and emails from somebody wanted to give me Medicare insurance for Saturday and then want to sell me a back brace and car insurance and see all kinds of things and I have not filled out anything to do that if I don’t know what’s going on I guess my next step is I’ll get a hold of the credit bureaus and see if his if I’m jacked up
A.C.
Hi, Kevin. 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.
Lora K.
I have been receiving the same roboemail for about a week 5/15/19 – 5/20/19 saying that there is fraudulent and suspusious activity going on with my Social Security #. I call the # back (1-800-899-1765) and only get a recording. It’s getting annoying, what should I do?
Lora Kozak
scott
I just got a call from 1(831) 709-7754. it was a robocall and said essentially
“this is officer steve Murphy from the Social Security administration. We have recently detected fraudulent activity on your account. please contact us at the following number 1 (831) 709-7754 to resolve this issue before you get arrested.”
Deb S.
My 86 yo mother received the SSN messages on her voice machine (3 in one day) from the following #’s:
833-862-7313 reverse lookup shows info unavailable
844-854-1110 reverse lookup shows info unavailable
757-772-9967 reverse lookup shows as landline in Norfolk, VA through Cavalier
747-212-1946 reverse looks shows landline in Los Angeles through Tandem Cal LIC
When I called each of these numbers the persons that answered all had heavy Eastern Indian accents and answered the phone ‘Social Security Administration’. The background noise on all calls sounded like a room full of phones, like a telethon sounds.
I called from my cell and a few hours later I received a call from this # in Ecuador 593-99-589-5839. I suspect this is where all the SSN calls are originating from.
I hope someone will do investigation and close them down. Luckily I have my mom trained to not answer calls from any number she doesn’t recognize or from numbers that come up as unavailable, restricted or private. She calls me about all messages left on her VM before returning any calls. She does the same with all mail she receives that looks official but may not be.
BTW she is on DNC list, but they still call. She also gets those Medicare calls about braces and such. I tell her not to answer those calls either.
There must be away you, FTC or FBI can track these people down and shut them down permanently.
A.C.
Thanks for letting us know, 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. Thanks, again.
Rita C.
I received an automated call stating that my Social Security number (SSN) has been suspended for suspicion of illegal activity. Phone number that called is (559) 321-7258.