Scam on Social Security hitting area

Local residents report they have received calls this week from people doing a new scam using Social Security as a cover.

People are receiving calls representing the source as the Social Security Administration saying the administration is checking on activity on the account and the person being scammed should press 1 to continue.

When they check with the Social Security Administration, the residents said, there is no suspicious activity on their accounts.

Social Security has reported numerous scams in the last few years, and urges people to use extreme caution. When people receive a call, press releases say, the best option is to hang up and call the Social Security Administration to verify that an issue exists.

Scammers regularly fake the information coming up on caller identification systems to show the call is coming from Social Security or the Social Security Advisory Board or even the Social Security Fraud Hotline from the Social Security Office of the Inspector General.

The calls are not actually coming from those sources, releases from Social Security said.

“This is a scam; OIG employees do not place outgoing calls from the Fraud Hotline 800 number. Citizens should not engage with these calls or provide personal information,” the release about the fraud hotline said.

“SSA and OIG employees do contact citizens by telephone for official purposes, and they may request the citizen confirm personal information over the phone. However, the calls do not appear on caller ID as the Fraud Hotline number of 8000-269-0271,” it said. “Also, SSA and OIG employees will never threaten you for information or promise any type of official action in exchange for personal information or payment.  In those cases, the call is fraudulent, and you should just hang up.”

“If you receive a suspicious call from someone alleging to be from SSA or OIG, you should report that information to the OIG online at https://oig.ssa.gov/report or by calling 800-269-0271, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern Time. You can also report these scams to the Federal Trade Commission through a new site specific to Social Security scams:  https://identitytheft.gov/ssa/,” the release said.

In a release about another scam, Inspector General of Social Security Gail S. Ennis urged the public not to provide sensitive information over the telephone or internet unless they are certain who is requesting the information. People also should never wire money or add money to a prepaid debit card to pay for any official government services, Ennis added.