SCAMMERS WANT TO ROB YOU - PLEASE BEWARE

You are sitting down to dinner and your phone rings.  The caller ID indicates that it's a local number.  In fact, the number has the same first 3 digits as your number.  You decide to answer.

A voice on the other end of the line, someone who doesn't know your name, says:  "This call is from the Social Security Administration.  We have detected fraudulent activity involving your Social Security account..."

The caller will then ask you for verify certain personal information:  your name, address and Social Security number.  

This call is NOT from Social Security, even if your caller ID says "Social Security Administration."  This is a spoof call.  The caller may be in India or Bangladesh.  Or some other foreign country.  They use computers to generate fake telephone numbers that look like local calls. They call thousands of people (robo calls).

Please do not talk to these criminals.  If they get your name, address or Social Security number, they will rob you. They may also ask you to send them money, often in the form of a pre-paid card of some kind.  Social Security will NEVER ask you to do such a thing.

Social Security will never call you about suspected fraud or abuse.  The real Social Security Administration always uses first class US Mail for such purposes.  They never make this type of phone call.

The real Social Security will NEVER ask you to send them money by wire transfer, debit card, credit card or pre-paid cards of any kind.  If you get this type of call it is a scam. Do not talk to these criminals.  Hang up immediately.

There are variations of these fake calls.  They may say they are calling from Medicare.  Or the US Treasury Department.  Or some other government agency.

Some recent scam calls say that a warrant has been issued for your arrest and you can prevent being arrested by sending money today (for example, "before 6 PM today" or "before midnight tonight").

Elderly individuals may especially be vulnerable to these criminal calls.  If you know an elderly person who receives Social Security or Medicare, please warn them about these calls and advise them never to speak to any such caller over the telephone.

How do I know these calls are happening?  Because I received 3 of them just last week.  

The US government would like to stop these calls.  However, because they often originate from foreign countries (India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc.), it is impossible to find the criminals who run these scams.  US telephone and communications companies need to do more to protect our citizens from these criminal activities.

Remember, just because the number looks local, it probably is not.  It is very easy for a foreign criminal to get a phone number that looks like it might be your neighbor's number. Never, ever give personal information over the phone to anyone who calls you.  (Social Security, Medicare and the Treasury Department already has your information).