Social Security Imposters

You get a call from someone claiming to be from the Social Security Administration to tell you your Social Security number has been suspended because of suspicious activity, or because it has been involved in a crime. They ask you to confirm your Social Security number, or they may say you need to withdraw money from the bank and store it on a gift card for “safekeeping”. You may be told your accounts will be seized or frozen if you don’t act quickly.

These calls may start as a “robocall” and the message may say to “press 1” to speak to a government “support representative” for help reactivating your Social Security number. The caller may also use caller ID to “spoof” it to say the call is from the Social Security Administration. The goal is to get people to give up their Social Security number and other personal information.

When people lose money through this scam, they lose a lot. If the scammer tells you to use a gift card, they will ask for the PIN numbers on the back to gain access to the funds stored on the card. Scammers have used Bitcoin to gain access to funds. Using a gift card gives the scammer quick access to your cash, while staying anonymous, and the money will be gone.