#BethlehemPolice #SocialSecurity #Scam #Crime #AlbanyCounty
ALBANY COUNTY — Residents are urged to stay vigilant of fraudulent phone calls that impersonate the Social Security Administration (SSA), which may ask for personal information.
Bethlehem police shared a press release to Spotlight News on Tuesday, Dec. 11 about how there have been ongoing nationwide reports about such fraudulent calls from individuals claiming they are from the SSA. Such a caller allegedly threatens the answering resident by saying that because of “improper or illegal activity with a citizen’s Social Security number (SSN) or account,” the resident would be arrested or face legal action if he or she does not give a phone number to remedy that issue.
According to the release, these calls are a scam and residents are advised to not exchange any sensitive or contact information with those callers. While SSA employees do contact residents albeit for ongoing business, they will never threaten a resident in exchange for information and residents can just hang up on them if they sense that the call’s nature feels suspicious.
“Unfortunately, scammers will try anything to mislead and harm innocent people, including scaring them into thinking that something is wrong with their Social Security account and they might be arrested,” said Gale Stallworth Stone, the Acting Inspector General of Social Security. “I encourage everyone to remain watchful of these schemes and to alert family members and friends of their prevalence. We will continue to track these scams and warn citizens, so that they can stay several steps ahead of these thieves.”
Some fraudulent callers have also been known to somehow get the SSA’s actually number, 1-800-772-1213, to appear on the incoming caller ID.
Stone advised residents to only exchange personal information if they know for sure that the other person on the line is a legitimate SSA employee.
If a resident receives a suspicious call from someone claiming to be an SSA employee, he or she can report about it to the Office of Inspector General at 1-800-269-0271 or online at https://oig.ssa.gov/report. For more information, visit https://oig.ssa.gov/newsroom/scam-awareness.
