You receive a call and you’re told that he’s from the government and you now have a suspended Social Security number because of some connection to fraud or other criminal activity. They say to call a special number where you’ll get help to clear it up. They’ll then proceed to ask you for personal information.
The caller sounds very professional so you should do exactly what he says to make things right …. Wrong.
The FTC has received reports about scammers trying to trick people out of their personal information by telling them that they need to reactivate their supposedly suspended social security number. The scammers say the SSN was suspended.
REMEMBER this…. Social Security numbers NEVER get suspended.
This is just a variation of a government imposter scam and they’re just after your SSN, bank account number, or other personal information. In this variation of the scam, the caller pretends to be protecting you from a scam while he’s trying to lure you into one.
Here are a few tips to protect yourself:
- Never give out or confirm personal information over the phone, via email or on a website until you’ve checked out whoever is asking you for it.
- Do not trust a name, phone number, or email address just because it seems to be connected with the government. Con artists use official-sounding names and may fake caller ID or email address information to make you trust them. Besides, the government normally contacts people by postal mail.
- Contact government agencies directly, using telephone numbers and website addresses you know to be legitimate.
If someone has tried to steal your personal information by pretending to be from the government, report it to the FTC.
