New Way To Report Social Security Scams

The Social Security Administration interacts with Americans probably more than any other Federal Agency. Lately Social Security has been the target of scams where citizens have been contacted from somebody pretending to be from the Agency, attempting to get your Social Security number, banking information, and anything else they think they can monetize.

On November 19th the Inspector General for the Social Security Administration, Gail S. Ennis, and Commissioner of Social Security Andrew Saul announced the launch of a dedicated online form at https://oig.ssa.gov to receive reports from the public of Social Security-related scams. These scams—in which fraudulent callers mislead victims into making cash or gift card payments to avoid arrest for purported Social Security number problems—skyrocketed over the past year to become the #1 type of fraud reported to the Federal Trade Commission and the Social Security Administration.

To combat these scams, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) will use the new online form to capture data that will be analyzed for trends and commonalities. The OIG will use the data to identify investigative leads, which could help identify criminal entities or individuals participating in or facilitating the scams. Ultimately, these efforts are expected to disrupt the scammers, helping reduce this type of fraud as well as the number of victims.

Remember Social Security will almost never call you. If you get a call, let it go into voice mail, then you can contact Social Security using their 800 number of 800 772 1212 or go to the local office. Do not call back the number that was provided on our voice mail.