by Lisa Weintraub Schifferle

Attorney, FTC, Division of Consumer & Business Education

If you get a call that looks like it’s from the Social Security Administration (SSA), think twice. Scammers are spoofing SSA’s 1-800 customer service number to try to get your personal information. Spoofing means that scammers can call from anywhere, but they make your caller ID show a different number-often one that looks legit.

Here are few things you should know about these so-called SSA calls. These scam calls are happening across the nation, according to SSA (blog.ssa.gov/inspectorgeneral-warns-public-about-caller-id-spoofing-scheme-misusing-ssa-customer-service-number/?utm source=twitter&utm medium=social&utm campaign=smt-cola-19&utm content%20field=education):

Your phone rings. Your caller ID shows that it’s the SSA calling from 1-800-772-1213. The caller says he works for the Social Security Administration and needs your personal information like your Social Security number – to increase your benefits payments. (Or he threatens to cut off your benefits if you don’t give the information.) But it’s not really the Social Security Administration calling. Yes, it is the SSA’s real phone number, but the scammers on the phone are spoofing the number to make the call look real.

What can you do if you get one of these calls? Hang up. Remember:

• SSA will not threaten you. Real SSA employees will never threaten you to get personal information. They also won’t promise to increase your benefits in exchange for information. If they do, it’s a scam.

·If you have any doubt, hang up and call SSA directly. Call1-800-772-1213 – that realty is the phone number for the Social Security Administration. If you dial that number, you know who you’re getting. But remember that you can’t trust caller I D. If a call comes in from that number, you can’t be sure it’s really SSA calling.

• If you get a spoofed call, report it. If someone calls, claiming to be from SSA and asking for information like your Social Security number, report it to SSA’s Office of Inspector General at 1-800-269-0271 or https://oig.ssa.gov/report. You can also report these calls to the FTC at ftc.gov/complaint