This Message Is to Inform You That Ssa and Legal Enforcement Agency

«We are deeply concerned that fraudsters continue to find new ways to impersonate government agencies to trick people into revealing personal information or money,» said Kilolo Kijakazi, acting commissioner for social security. «I urge people to be vigilant and ignore suspicious emails, texts or letters. If you receive a suspicious message, do not click on links or attachments. Don`t transfer your money! Don`t buy this gift card! Never pay someone who insists that you pay with a gift card, prepaid debit card, internet currency or cryptocurrency, bank transfer, bank transfer, or mail. Scammers use these forms of payment because they are difficult to track. Be wary of contacts who claim to be from a government agency or law enforcement agency and tell you about a problem you don`t know about. Do not provide your personal information, even if the caller has some of your information. Fraudsters may threaten arrest or other legal action or offer to increase benefits, protect their property or solve identity theft. They often require payment by gift cards, bank transfers, prepaid debit cards, internet currency or cash. Visit our oig.ssa.gov website to report Social Security related scams.

Visit our scams page for more information on previous scams and warnings. Follow SSA OIG on Facebook and Twitter for the latest information. Please share this information with your friends and family to protect them from Social Security scams. Do not click on links or attachments. Block unwanted calls and text messages. Federal law enforcement agencies warn the public not to be skeptical of emails and text messages pretending to be someone from a government or law enforcement agency. No one in federal law enforcement will send photos of certificates or badges to demand payment of any kind, nor will government employees. We have seen an increase in the number of people reporting these fake SSA calls to us. Since January 2018, we have received more than 63,000 reports of this scam. Three percent of these people reported a loss – and they lost $16.6 million (with a median loss of $1,484). Gail S.

Ennis, the inspector general of the Social Security Administration (SSA), advises the public on the latest developments related to Social Security fraud, which uses fraudulent SSA letterhead to feign legitimacy and gain trust to target individuals for money or personal information. To read a version of this blog post in Korean, click here.이 블로그 포스트를 한국어로 보시려면 여기를 클릭하세요. We don`t edit comments to remove offensive content, so please make sure your comment doesn`t contain any of the above. Comments published on this blog become in the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of others, please do not provide personal information. The opinions in the comments that appear on this blog belong to the people who expressed them. They are not owned by the Federal Trade Commission and do not represent its views. The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Social Security Administration (OIG), the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Labor, the Office of the Inspector General of NASA, the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have partnered to issue this scam alert.

You can hear how the scam sounds here. The caller usually says that your Social Security Number (SSN) has been suspended for suspicious activity or because it has been involved in a crime. Sometimes the scammer wants you to confirm your Social Security number to reactivate it. Sometimes it says your bank account will be seized — but if you put your money on gift cards and then give it the codes, SSA can help keep it safe. (Of course, you never want to do that, because then your money is just gone.) If you receive a call, text, or email that you think is suspicious because of a problem with your Social Security number or account, don`t answer or interact with the caller or sender. Report fraud by phone, email and SMS to Social Security using our dedicated online form. Inspector General Ennis has previously warned against scammers using the real names of SSA and OIG officials, many of which are publicly available on the Internet. Common tactics include scammers citing law enforcement officers` «ID numbers,» sending emails with attachments containing real personal information about a fake «investigation,» or phishing personal information via SMS links that you click on and «learn more» about a Social Security issue. In reply to Just got this same call 4 by Rubyblonde Stop talking to the scammer. Notify financial institutions and secure accounts.

Contact local law enforcement and file a complaint with the police. File a complaint with the FBI IC3 in www.ic3.gov and the Federal Trade Commission in ReportFraud.FTC.gov. Recent reports suggest that criminals are trying to trick people into sharing personal and financial information over the phone or through deceptive text and email messages that lure recipients to a fake Social Security website. Criminals wrongly advise recipients to apply for Social Security benefits or extra money such as a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) or create an online account. The message may also contain false contact information for SSA. You have the choice to leave or not a comment. If you do, you will need to create a username, otherwise we will not publish your comment. The Federal Trade Commission Act authorizes this collection of information for the purpose of managing online comments. Comments and usernames are part of the Federal Trade Commission`s (FTC) public registration system, and usernames are also part of the FTC`s computer registration system. We may regularly use these records as described in the FTC Privacy Act System Instructions. For more information about how the FTC handles the information we collect, please see our Privacy Statement. Keep information on financial transactions and a record of all communications with the fraudster.

These scams mainly use the phone to contact you, but scammers can also use email, SMS, social media, or US mail. Scammers pretend to belong to an agency or organization you know to gain your trust. Scammers say there is a problem or a price. Scammers put pressure on you to act immediately. Scammers tell you to pay a certain way. Inspector General Ennis reminded the public that the SOA automatically applies to all SSA beneficiaries and does not need to be activated. Beneficiaries can view their COLA review online via their personal social security account at www.ssa.gov/myaccount/. «Social Security will never threaten you, scare you, or pressure you to take immediate action,» Inspector General Ennis said. «If you receive a suspicious call, text message, email or letter, hang up immediately or ignore the message.

Visit ssa.gov and contact SSA directly if you have ongoing cases to solve. Be skeptical. If you think a real law enforcement officer is trying to reach you, call your local police using a non-emergency number to verify it. Don`t believe scammers who «forward» your call to an official or give you a number as proof. Scammers can create fake numbers and identities. Don`t trust your caller ID. This unexpected offer from the Social Security Administration (SSA) to enable a performance boost comes from a criminal, not the real SSA. Do not share personal or financial information.

Do not click on links or respond. Report suspected scams to oig.ssa.gov/report. We continue to receive reports of scammers posing as government employees. Scammers may contact you by mail, phone, text message, email, or message in the United States on social media to obtain your personal information or money. Watch this Social Security Administration video on scam awareness To report this scam, go to ftc.gov/complaint. However, if you`ve already given your Social Security number to one of these callers and are concerned about identity theft, visit IdentityTheft.gov/ssa. And if you get any of these calls, remember: To read a Tagalog version of this blog post, click here. Upang mabasa ang bersyon ng Blog post na ito sa Tagalog, mag-click idem.

New reports show that scammers are reviving an old tactic to gain trust. Scammers send photos of real and manipulated law enforcement agencies and badges via email and SMS to prove they are legitimate and scam people with money.