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Social Security Phone Scam

By Sandy Roland AAP, APRP, CAMS, NCP posted 08-14-2017 12:04

  

You may remember reading about the “Can You Hear Me Now” phone scam earlier this year in which the fraudster would call a consumer and ask a question prompting a “yes” response. (If not, listen to our Free Payments Fraud Awareness Town Hall). That response would then be recorded and used as an authorization in conjunction with other personal information they may have already obtained in order to perpetrate fraud.

Unfortunately, telephone scams seem to be here to stay, with the most recent scam targeting social security recipients.  An article was published in July warning citizens to be wary of phone calls from individuals purporting to be from the Social Security Administration. The Acting Inspector General of Social Security recently issued an alert warning citizens of this scam in which fraudsters are calling potential victims from a (323) area code, purporting to be a SSA employee. The goal of the criminal is to get as much information as possible such as SSN, address, date of birth, parents name etc. in order to redirect the victims direct deposit to the account of the criminal. 

This recent scam serves as a reminder that the ‘bad guys’ are still out there continuing to create new scams or variations of older scams. As financial industry professionals, our best defense is to educate our customers and members on how they can protect themselves from becoming victims. 

According to the Treasury, in order to prevent identity theft you should never give out the following information to businesses unless you initiated contact:

  • SSN
  • Bank account information
  • Credit/debit card information

Legitimate businesses, financial institutions and government agencies will not ask for this type of sensitive information. For additional information, you can visit:  https://fiscal.treasury.gov/GoDirect/fraud/index.html

If you have been a victim of identity theft, the following website offers information regarding steps you can take including filing a report with the Federal Trade Commission. (FTC) https://oig.ssa.gov/newsroom/news-releases/july19-advisory

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