The Social Security Administration and its Office of the Inspector General have warned retirees receiving Social Security about scammers who are using online methods to steal their personal information.
In a statement, Assistant Inspector General for Audit Michelle L. Anderson, who is performing the duties of the inspector general, said, “We are seeing a sharp increase in fraudulent emails designed to look like official Social Security Administration communications. These messages are not from Social Security. Anyone who receives one should delete it immediately and report it.”
According to the federal agency, the scammers are sending emails to Social Security recipients that falsely claim to provide access to one’s Social Security statement. If the retired Social Security recipient opens that email or downloads anything from the links in the scam email, their personal information and sensitive data might be compromised and may even lead to financial losses.
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According to Fox News, these scammers appear legitimate by including certain personal information that they could have obtained from data breaches. The inclusion of such information makes the emails look authentic, which often prompts the recipient to follow the instructions provided.
The scammers are also likely to use official government caller IDs, emails and texts to appear even more trustworthy. While the scammers do try to appear legitimate, there are certain warning signs that retirees should keep a watch for so that they don’t fall into the trap of fraudulent emails.
For instance, retirees should be careful about messages or emails that claim to have one’s Social Security statement that is ready to download. They should also not blindly trust embeds or links that are marked as statements or documents. Scammers also often send texts that have a tone of urgency to them, asking the recipients to act immediately on the provided information. This is also another sign of the message having the possibility of being a fraudulent one.
It should also be noted that Social Security emails that come from the government have email ids ending with .gov. While scammers often replicate official addresses and IDs, retirees should especially be aware of email addresses that do not end with .gov and yet talk about Social Security and associated things, as they might be sent by scammers.
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To keep themselves safe from these scam emails, authorities have come up with certain preventive measures that the retirees can follow. For instance, opening unsolicited messages or clicking on unknown links are generally advised against as they might lead to financial losses and other kinds of problems.
Moreover, retirees are also encouraged against providing their personal information including their Social Security details to anyone who calls and claims to be a government official in need of that data. These calls often come from scammers who pretend to be an official only to gather valuable information from a retired person.
To ensure that the scammers do not get away with what they are trying to pull off, it is important that retirees who receive such suspicious mails or calls immediately report them to relevant authorities. In case the scammer has successfully obtained information from the victim, it is important to stop all communications with them and file a complaint for swift action on the matter.
