There’s a new twist on an old Social Security Scam. Below you will find a recording of a sample call.
In this scheme callers tell their victims that they are going to cancel or suspend the victim’s SSN. The con artists leave a robocall message to scare people into returning the call and revealing Social Security or bank information.
Here’s an example of one of those calls:
These crooks may also mention overdue taxes in addition to threatening to cancel your SSN. Your SSN can’t be cancelled even if you want to.
The best thing to do when you get a call like this?
HANG UP.
People have been taken for many thousands of dollars replying to this type of call.
How do you know it’s a social security scam? The Social Security Administration and the IRS do not EVER seek social security numbers over the phone.
And further, even private companies that the IRS has assigned accounts to will never do any of the following:
- Demand immediate payment with a specific payment method. The IRS and the U.S. government do not accept payment exclusively with prepaid debit cards, Amazon gift cards or bank wire transfers.
- Request that you make a payment to a person or organization other than the U.S. Treasury.
- Threaten to have you arrested immediately for non-payment.
- Demand taxes be paid without giving the taxpayer the opportunity to question or appeal the amount owed.
Even if you do owe money to the IRS, they won’t be calling to ask for a I-tunes card in payment. You can safely ignore these scam calls.
Lysander
If you have questions, topics or a situation you'd like to discuss, his phone and email are at the top of every page.
Lysander is not an attorney and it is not his intent to offer legal advice.
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