August 16, 2019
Working at GLC Business Services has afforded me and my fellow employees with rich resources to be trained and educated on IT security and anti-fraud measures. VPN as well as other tools are safeguards we utilize at work to protect our company and our customers.
At home my family is bombarded with solicitations of all sorts. I share with my family what safeguards we can exercise at home to try not to fall prey to scammers. This is daunting as the tactics and scams become more creative and persuasive.
I came across an article in AARP about Social Security Scams which is eye opening and important to review and share with family and friends. Please review.
Social Security Scams / AARP / Money / Article
Social Security numbers are the skeleton key to identity theft. And what better way to get someone’s Social Security number than by pretending to be from Social Security? It’s a common form of government impostor scam, in which fraudsters pose as government officials to get you to send money or give up personal and financial data for use in identity theft.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported a surge in late 2018 in scams involving fake SSA employees calling people with warnings that their Social Security numbers had been linked to criminal activity and suspended. The caller asks you to confirm your number so he or she can reactivate it or issue you a new one, for a fee. This is no emergency but a ploy to get money and personal data: Social Security does not block or suspend numbers, ever.
This con is sometimes executed via rob call — the recording provides a number for you to call to remedy the problem. In another version, the caller says your bank account is at risk due to the illicit activity and offers to help you keep it safe.
https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2019/social-security.html