Social Security Awareness: Quick Tips

Your Social Security number is an extremely important piece of personal information. These numbers are used to open new credit cards, to acquire loans and in some cases, to establish new identities. Because of this, criminals and scammers work very hard to steal Social Security numbers.

The Department of Social Security recently reported an increase in scammers posing as Social Security Administration (SSA) employees. These scammers are calling people and threatening them or misleading them in an attempt to learn their Social Security numbers, along with other important, personal information. These scammers are fooling caller IDs to show the Social Security Administration’s real number of 1-800-772-1213. However, regardless of what the caller ID displays, it’s not really the SSA calling.

Here is what you need to know:

• Your Social Security number is not about to be suspended. Your bank accounts are not about to be seized. You don’t have to verify your Social Security number to anyone that calls you.
• The Social Security Administration will never contact you to threaten your benefits or tell you to wire money, send cash, or put money on gift cards. Anyone asking you to do these things is a scammer! Every single time.
• Never give any part of your Social Security number, bank account number or credit card information to anyone who contacts you.

If you encounter someone seeking this information, report it to the Consumer Protection Division. Please go to https://oig.ssa.gov/report or call 1-877-5-NO-SCAM.