Have you gotten a phone call recently informing you that your Social Security Number has been suspended due to suspicious activity? If so, you’re not alone. Ziggy himself has received a handful of calls like this in the last few days, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been getting reports of calls like this for several months now. The call may be a recorded message encouraging you to press 1 to call back, or it may sound like a real person claiming to be from a government agency like “Social Security/DES.”
According to the FTC, calls like this one are a variation of what’s called a government impostor scam. In this type of scam someone calls you pretending to be from the government in the hopes that you will give divulge personal information such as your bank account number or, as in this scam, your Social Security Number. The caller may ask for the information directly or may advise you to call another number to clear up the problem. If you receive a call like this, DO NOT share any important personal information with the caller! It is not possible for a Social Security Number to be suspended, and real employees of the United States government typically contact people via the United States Postal Service rather than calling on the phone.
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