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Social Security warning issued to millions of Americans
"According to the SSA's Office of the Inspector General, there was a 61.7 percent increase of reported scams between Q3 of the financial year in 2022 and the same period in 2023. In the former, just over 13,000 scams were reported, rising to 21,080 in the latter.
The SSA explained in a release made on Thursday that scammers employ a variety of tactics known as the five P's: "Pretend, Prize or Problem, Pressure, and Payment." Common scams involve a fraudster claiming a person's Social Security number or benefits is suspended and they need your personal information to reactivate or reissue, being told they need to pay to access their benefits, or that a person owes money to the SSA and needs to pay immediately."
In other words, if you think a phone call from an unknown number might be someone trying to harm you, you may not be paranoid at all!
"According to the SSA's Office of the Inspector General, there was a 61.7 percent increase of reported scams between Q3 of the financial year in 2022 and the same period in 2023. In the former, just over 13,000 scams were reported, rising to 21,080 in the latter.
The SSA explained in a release made on Thursday that scammers employ a variety of tactics known as the five P's: "Pretend, Prize or Problem, Pressure, and Payment." Common scams involve a fraudster claiming a person's Social Security number or benefits is suspended and they need your personal information to reactivate or reissue, being told they need to pay to access their benefits, or that a person owes money to the SSA and needs to pay immediately."
In other words, if you think a phone call from an unknown number might be someone trying to harm you, you may not be paranoid at all!