The Social Security Administration and its Office of the Inspector General continue to raise public awareness about Social Security impostor scams during the fourth annual \u201cSlam the Scam\u201d Day yesterday, March 9.<\/p>\n
Social Security scams\u2014where fraudsters pressure victims into making cash or gift card payments to fix alleged Social Security number problems or to avoid arrest\u2014are an ongoing government impostor fraud scheme. For several years, Social Security impersonation scams have been one of the most common government impostor scams reported to the Federal Trade Commission. Social Security has made concerted efforts to address this issue, through extensive outreach and investigative initiatives. These efforts have made a significant impact, reducing money reported lost to Social Security scams by 30% from 2021 to 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am proud of the work we have done to combat Social Security [impostor] scams and raise public awareness,\u201d said Kilolo Kijakazi, acting commissioner of Social Security. \u201cWe will continue to use every tool at our disposal to protect the public and their critical benefits. We urge Americans to remain vigilant, do not give out personal information or money, and report any scam attempts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scammers use sophisticated tactics to trick potential victims into disclosing personal and financial information. Typically, they use these P\u2019s\u2014Pretend, Prize or Problem, Pressure, and Payment. For example, scammers pretend they are from Social Security in phone calls or emails and claim there is a problem with the person\u2019s Social Security number. The scammer\u2019s caller ID may be spoofed to look like a legitimate government number. Scammers may also send fake documents to pressure people into complying with demands for information or money. Other common tactics include citing \u201cbadge numbers\u201d and using fraudulent Social Security letterhead to target individuals for payment or personal information.<\/p>\n
Social Security will never tell you that your Social Security number is suspended; contact you to demand an immediate payment; threaten you with arrest; ask for your credit or debit card numbers over the phone; request gift cards or cash; or promise a Social Security benefit approval or increase in exchange for information or money.<\/p>\n
Social Security employees do contact the public by telephone for business purposes. Ordinarily, the agency calls people who have recently applied for a Social Security benefit, are already receiving payments and require an update to their record, or have requested a phone call from the agency. If there is a problem with a person\u2019s Social Security number or record, Social Security will typically mail a letter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking with our law enforcement and private sector partners to inform consumers about scammers and their deceptive practices remains a priority for my office. We will continue promoting National Slam the Scam Day to help protect consumers from these predators. Slamming the scam begins with consumers quickly taking a step to hang up the phone, or delete suspicious texts and emails, without responding to the scammers,\u201d said Gail S. Ennis, Inspector General for the Social Security Administration. \u201cThat remains the easiest and most effective method to avoid falling prey to these vicious scams.\u201d<\/p>\n
To report a scam attempt, go to oig.ssa.gov. For more information, visit www.ssa.gov\/scam<\/a> and www.ssa.gov\/fraud<\/a>. (SSA)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Social Security Administration and its Office of the Inspector General continue to raise public…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":387014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[399],"class_list":["post-387013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-social-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}