The Social Safety Administration and its Workplace of the Inspector Normal (OIG) are partnering as soon as once more to lift public consciousness about Social Safety imposter scams throughout their fifth annual “Slam the Rip-off” Day on March 7.
“As public servants, we should use each software at our disposal to lift consciousness and defend the American individuals in opposition to Social Safety imposter scams,” mentioned Martin O’Malley, Commissioner of Social Safety. “Scammers use concern and deception to scare individuals out of their vital advantages. We urge everybody to guard their private data, stay vigilant, don’t give cash, and report any rip-off makes an attempt to oig.ssa.gov.”
Social Safety scams–the place fraudsters mislead victims into making money, present card, or wire switch funds to repair alleged Social Safety quantity issues or to keep away from arrest–are an ongoing authorities imposter fraud scheme. Social Safety impersonation scams have been some of the frequent authorities imposter scams reported to the Federal Commerce Fee. Social Safety continues to make concerted efforts to deal with this difficulty, via intensive outreach and investigative initiatives.
Criminals use refined ways to trick potential victims into disclosing private and monetary data. Sometimes, they use these P’s – Faux, Prize or Downside, Stress, and Cost. For instance, scammers faux they’re from Social Safety in cellphone calls, texts, emails, and direct messages on social media, and declare there’s a drawback with the individual’s Social Safety quantity. The scammer’s caller ID could also be spoofed to seem like a professional authorities quantity. Scammers may ship pretend paperwork to strain individuals into complying with calls for for data or cash. Different frequent ways embrace citing “badge numbers,” utilizing fraudulent Social Safety letterhead, and creating imposter social media pages to focus on people for cost or private data.
“On our fifth Nationwide Slam the Rip-off Day, we’re simply as dedicated as we have been in 2020. The scammers haven’t stopped, and we won’t cease in our dedication to extend public consciousness of those pervasive scams,” mentioned Gail S. Ennis, Inspector Normal for SSA. “We’re grateful for the various partnerships now we have fashioned over the past 5 years in help of this initiative and the collaborative efforts which have come forth. We should proceed to work collectively to slam the rip-off.”
Social Safety won’t ever inform you that your Social Safety quantity is suspended; contact you to demand a right away cost; threaten you with arrest; ask on your credit score or debit card numbers over the cellphone; request present playing cards or money; or promise a Social Safety profit approval or enhance in alternate for data or cash.
Social Safety staff do contact the general public by phone for enterprise functions. Ordinarily, the company calls individuals who have just lately utilized for a Social Safety profit, are already receiving funds and require an replace to their file, or have requested a cellphone name from the company. If there’s a drawback with an individual’s Social Safety quantity or file, Social Safety will sometimes mail a letter.
In the present day’s occasions embrace:
- 1 p.m. ET: Be a part of USAgov’s Nationwide Client Safety Week (NCPW) X/Twitter chat (in Spanish) for recommendation on avoiding frequent scams with @USAGovEspanol. Comply with the dialog by utilizing the hashtags #OjoConLasEstafas and #NCPW2024.
- 3 p.m. ET: Be a part of USAgov’s NCPW X/Twitter chat (in English) for recommendation on avoiding frequent scams with @USAGov. Comply with the dialog by utilizing the hashtags #SlamTheScamChat and #NCPW2024.
To report a rip-off try, go to the OIG web site. For extra data, please go to our Defend Your self from Scams and Fraud Prevention and Reporting pages.
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Tags: OIG, scams, social safety, phone scams
