What Are Social Security Scams: The Fake Employee, Improved Card (Article Sample)

What are Social Security Scams? Social security scams are scams that involve criminals or fraudsters who impersonate social security employees to obtain your personal information and Social security numbers. Identity theft occurs when a thief steals your personal information and social security number. The thief then uses this information to claim your social security benefits. Different Social Security scams The Fake Social Security Employee Scams There are a lot of scams in which the perpetrator poses as a social security employee and calls you requesting for personal details and social security number. The caller may tell you that the information is required for them to issue rebates or additional funds, or he may claim that the computer system had a hitch and lost your personal information. You should be wary of this identity theft tactic and hang up immediately, better still; you may consider adding these numbers to your blocked calls list to avoid a repeat of such calls in future. In case you are not sure whether a call is genuine, it is advisable to disconnect the call and call back using an official number. You should never give your social security number or any personal information over the telephone unless you are the one who made the call. Also be in the know that scammers have mastered the art of black cyber crime of “caller ID spoofing,” so even if your caller ID reads, “Social Security Administration,” it is most likely to be another scammer. A New, Improved Social Security Card Scam In this case, the scammer again poses as a social security employee and tells the victim that the agency is replacing the old version paper social security cards with new theft-proof IDs that are high tech. The scammer may further claim that he can speed up the card replacement process if the victim offers their identification details and bank account details. You should not give in to such claims. Only your social security number is required where necessary and not the card, in fact, due to identity theft threat, you are not supposed to take your social security card with you anywhere. Hence, you should learn your Social Security number by heart and keep the card in a safe place. Fake Email Headers / Phishing Phishing is an exercise of adopting social engineering techniques using email to trick the recipient into giving personal details, opening a malevolent attachment or clicking on a malevolent link. Scammers usually design emails that appear like they have been sent from the social security administration and may direct the recipient to a website designed to appear like a government website. Detecting phishing emails Social security administration emails mostly are sent from a from a “.gov” email address. You should be cautious before opening emails without ending in “.gov.” At times, the social security administration e...