Is that Phone Call From Us?
Reading Time: 2 MinutesLast Updated: August 19, 2021
It’s the morning of a busy day at home and you get a call from an unknown number. You answer only to find yourself on the receiving end of a threatening message saying your Social Security benefits will stop immediately unless you provide your personal information. It happens every day to thousands of Americans. And it’s not Social Security calling.
Scammers have many ways to lure their victims into providing information and then stealing their identities. Sometimes they call under a guise of helping you complete a disability application.
Protecting your information is an important part of Social Security’s mission to secure today and tomorrow. SSA employees occasionally contact citizens by telephone for customer-service purposes. In only a few special situations, usually already known to the citizen, an SSA employee may request the citizen confirm personal information over the phone. If you do receive a call from one of our representatives, they will provide you with a telephone number and extension.
The Acting Inspector General for Social Security, Gail Stallworth Stone, urges everyone to stay vigilant of impersonation schemes and to not be afraid to hang up.
You must always remember that you’re in control. Also remember that Social Security will never do any of the following:
- Call you to demand an immediate payment.
- Demand that you pay a debt without the ability to appeal the amount you owe.
- Require a specific means of payment, such as requiring you to pay with a prepaid debit card.
- Ask you for your personal information or credit or debit card numbers over the phone.
- Threaten you with arrest or deportation.
If you receive one of these scam calls or emails, do not provide them with any information. You should:
- Hang up immediately.
- For Social Security impersonations, contact Social Security’s Office of Inspector General at https://oig.ssa.gov/report.
If you receive a notice from Social Security, please use the telephone numbers provided in the notice sent to you. You can also call 1-800-772-1213 or visit ssa.gov for how to contact Social Security. Remember that scammers try to stay a step ahead of the curve. You can do the same by protecting your information.
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Jim Borland, Acting Deputy Commissioner for Communications
Jim Borland, Acting Deputy Commissioner for Communications
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Gale A.
I received a fraudulent call from this phone number: 979-291-1072 from Angleton, TX.
A.C.
Thanks for letting us know, Gale. Generally, we will only contact you if you have requested a call or have ongoing business with us. Recently, scams—misleading victims into making cash or gift card payments to avoid arrest for Social Security number problems—have skyrocketed. Our employees will never threaten you for information or promise a benefit in exchange for personal information or money.
If you receive a suspicious call like this: 1) Hang up. 2) Do not provide personal information, money, or retail gift cards. 3) Report suspicious calls here. For more information on how to protect yourself, check out our Frequently Asked Questions. We hope this helps.
Doug E.
I have been contacted by people claiming the social security administration will cancel my benefits if i don’t contact them. Clearly a scam. They are using a number
1 800 518-6427 to preform their scam. Is there anything i can do to help you catch these criminals?
A.C.
Thanks for checking with us, Doug. Generally, we will only contact you if you have requested a call or have ongoing business with us. Recently, scams—misleading victims into making cash or gift card payments to avoid arrest for Social Security number problems—have skyrocketed. Our employees will never threaten you for information or promise a benefit in exchange for personal information or money.
If you receive a suspicious call like this: 1) Hang up. 2) Do not provide personal information, money, or retail gift cards. 3) Report suspicious calls here. For more information on how to protect yourself, check out our Frequently Asked Questions. We hope this helps.
Janice L.
I want to report a possible scam caller, but I am not sure where to do that. The caller told me he was from Medicare. He said that Medicare was sending out new plastic cards. He had my home address and wanted me to verify my personal information. I told him “no” I would not do that over the phone, as I was suspecting this was a scam call. I then hung up and have been searching online to report this in the proper place. The caller Id was from El Cajon, CA Ph# 619-357-7641.
Date: 12.10.19 call at 2:24 pm Eastern time.
A.C.
Hi, Janice. Thanks for letting us know. Generally, we will only contact you if you have requested a call or have ongoing business with us. Recently, scams—misleading victims into making cash or gift card payments to avoid arrest for Social Security number problems—have skyrocketed. Our employees will never threaten you for information or promise a benefit in exchange for personal information or money.
If you receive a suspicious call like this: 1) Hang up. 2) Do not provide personal information, money, or retail gift cards. 3) Report suspicious calls here. For more information on how to protect yourself, check out our Frequently Asked Questions. We hope this helps.
Carl M.
I was called by this number (303) 752-8468 Saying this is SSA. Asked me a bunch of questions. Is this a legitimate SSA number?
A.C.
Thanks for checking with us, Carl. Thanks for letting us know. Generally, we will only contact you if you have requested a call or have ongoing business with us. Recently, scams—misleading victims into making cash or gift card payments to avoid arrest for Social Security number problems—have skyrocketed. Our employees will never threaten you for information or promise a benefit in exchange for personal information or money.
If you receive a suspicious call like this: 1) Hang up. 2) Do not provide personal information, money, or retail gift cards. 3) Report suspicious calls here. For more information on how to protect yourself, check out our Frequently Asked Questions. We hope this helps.
Ctice
Sat am rec 2calls state i have committed fraud with my soc sec no is this a scam
A.C.
Hi, Ctice. Thanks for letting us know. Generally, we will only contact you if you have requested a call or have ongoing business with us. Recently, scams—misleading victims into making cash or gift card payments to avoid arrest for Social Security number problems—have skyrocketed. Our employees will never threaten you for information or promise a benefit in exchange for personal information or money.
If you receive a suspicious call like this: 1) Hang up. 2) Do not provide personal information, money, or retail gift cards. 3) Report suspicious calls here. For more information on how to protect yourself, check out our Frequently Asked Questions. We hope this helps.
Beverly A.
I was contacted on Saturday December 7, 2019 about 3:00PM Santa Fe, NM time on my home phone.
The person identified herself as Alina Hayden from
Social Security and gave me her identification badge
number as SS ID 00414. The phone number she said she was calling from was (361) 213 – 0123.
She stated that someone was using my social security number and that a car (a black Toyota) in Texas associated with my social security number had been
found abandoned by the Texas police authorities and it
had been or was associated with drug trafficking, guns, and illegal activities along the Texas and Mexico border. The case number she gave me was DC75462..
She did not ask for my credit card numbers or
investment account numbers. I did state that I had a checking account at First National Bank in Santa Fe, NM
and investment accounts at USAA and Blackrock. She did ask me repeatedly what was the limit on my two
credit cards and I stated that I had one USAA VISA
with an account maximum of about $20,000 and a
B,B&T VISA with account maximum of about $20,000.
I told her I did not really know the maximum limits
on my accounts because I never used them for large expenses and paid them in full each month.
I did not provide any account numbers for my banking accounts, credit cards or my investment accounts.
I did tell her I had one VISA credit card and one BB&T
credit cards but no numbers were provided. She repeatedly asked me for the maximum limits on my credit cards which I approximated to be about $20,000.
I told her I never used my credit cards for any expenses
that came near to my limits and that I paid off my
credit cards each month in full.
My highest level of concern is that someone has my social security number and is using it illegally.
I have checked my bank and investment accounts
within the last 24 hours, and there appears to be no
fraudulent activity to date. I will contact my bank which
has very little cash in it but my investment accounts
are my life savings She did ask me about the amounts in the two investment accounts and I unfortunately gave her the approximate amounts of $132,000 at USAA
and $86,000 at Blackrock.The current balance in my First National Bank in Santa Fe, NM is less than $1,000
and the savings account has a zero balance. My social security check is directly deposited into my First National Bank of Santa FE and is about $950.00
per month. I also have my medicare, USAA supplement and Humana Part D premiums directly paid from my
USSA account.
Again, none of the account numbers for my banks or investment accounts were provided by me.
My concern is that someone has my social security
number, my home address, and my home telephone,
and who knows what else. They could contact these institutions and pretend to be me by using my social security number. They could possibly access my banking, credit cards, or most importantly my
investment accounts which are my life savings.
My other concern is that with the information they have, they could create new accounts, like credit cards,
loans, etc using my social security number and whatever other information they have on me.
As I said, I did not give out any account numbers and all of my accounts have online identification names and passwords. I do use credit cards online to purchase items for my self. I also use my credit cards for gas,
food and small expenses. All are paid in full each month.
Can you help me? What do I do?
Thank you,
Beverly A Fordham
A.C.
Hi, Beverly. Thanks for letting us know. Generally, we will only contact you if you have requested a call or have ongoing business with us. Recently, scams—misleading victims into making cash or gift card payments to avoid arrest for Social Security number problems—have skyrocketed. Our employees will never threaten you for information or promise a benefit in exchange for personal information or money.
If you receive a suspicious call like this: 1) Hang up. 2) Do not provide personal information, money, or retail gift cards. 3) Report suspicious calls here. For more information on how to protect yourself, check out our Frequently Asked Questions.
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). To learn more about the steps individuals can take to prevent or resolve issues of identity theft, check out our publication, Identity Theft and Your Social Security Number. We hope this helps.
Alan M.
This is a scam number 425-276-8519
L.A.
Hi Alan. Thanks for letting us know. Generally, we will only contact you if you have requested a call or have ongoing business with us. Recently, scams—misleading victims into making cash or gift card payments to avoid arrest for Social Security number problems—have skyrocketed. Our employees will never threaten you for information or promise a benefit in exchange for personal information or money.
If you receive a suspicious call like this: 1) Hang up. 2) Do not provide personal information, money, or retail gift cards. 3) Report suspicious calls here. For more information on how to protect yourself, check out our Frequently Asked Questions. We hope this helps.
Samuel T.
I received an email from someone purporting to be from the SSA, regarding my case to start receiving SS monthly benefits. She instructed me to call a phone number and extension, but I have no way to independently verify that phone number as being legit and not a fake number used by scammers, etc.
Having recently retired from the federal government after a career as a cyber security professional, I am very aware of various methods used by hostile actors to take advantage of unsuspecting targets.
We must always educate people on how to avoid common traps used by hostile actors, and we must reinforce that training by providing users with an acceptable approach to validate contact information provided by SSA employees – and redirect, if necessary – users to legit numbers when they have in fact been provided fake contact information.
I looked through your website to validate the phone number she gave me – 866-431-3875 – but with no luck. Please put some kind of capability on your website so people can practice good cybersecurity “hygiene” by validating contact info.
For now, I am left with no alternative but to call the lady at her number and try to work with her on validating herself before I provide her with my critical PII. Not a good situation.
Please feel free to follow up with me, if you’d like more info from your customers’ perspective.
Terry Bartlett
L.A.
Hi Samuel. Thanks for letting us know. Generally, we will only contact you if you have requested a call or have ongoing business with us. Recently, scams—misleading victims into making cash or gift card payments to avoid arrest for Social Security number problems—have skyrocketed. Our employees will never threaten you for information or promise a benefit in exchange for personal information or money.
If you receive a suspicious call like this: 1) Hang up. 2) Do not provide personal information, money, or retail gift cards. 3) Report suspicious calls here. For more information on how to protect yourself, check out our Frequently Asked Questions. We hope this helps.
L.A.
Hi Samuel. In a few instances, we will use marketing firms to help raise awareness of Social Security’s online services. We allow these firms to send emails that will take individuals directly to our website. Any links that you find within these emails should always point to a “.gov” web address. If you are not certain that an email you received came from Social Security or one of our marketing partners, DO NOT click the links. Instead go directly to the Social Security website, and click on the “my Social Security” icon. Visit our site to learn more about how to detect a fraudulent email messages, here. We hope this helps.
Amanda V.
Passcode required to access my ss account information.
L.A.
Hi Amanda. We are sorry to hear that you are having difficulty accessing your personal my Social Security account. If you are still unable to access your account or encounter another problem with your personal my Social Security account, you may:
•Call us at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778), Monday through Friday, between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. At the voice prompt, say “help desk”; or
•Contact your local Social Security office. We hope this helps.
L.A.
Hi Amanda. If you Forgot password or username, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions for instructions. If you are still unable to access your account or encounter another problem with your personal my Social Security account, you may:
•Call us at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778), Monday through Friday, between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. At the voice prompt, say “help desk”; or
•Contact your local Social Security office. We hope this helps.
Mark S.
I received a phone message “A suspension notice against your social security number by the federal crime and investigation department. From Texas (361) 203-0124
A.C.
Thanks for letting us know, Mark. Generally, we will only contact you if you have requested a call or have ongoing business with us. Recently, scams—misleading victims into making cash or gift card payments to avoid arrest for Social Security number problems—have skyrocketed. Our employees will never threaten you for information or promise a benefit in exchange for personal information or money.
If you receive a suspicious call like this: 1) Hang up. 2) Do not provide personal information, money, or retail gift cards. 3) Report suspicious calls here. For more information on how to protect yourself, check out our Frequently Asked Questions. We hope this helps.