Is this call about my Social Security number being suspended a scam?
This is an official call from the Social Security Administration. We have detected suspicious activity linked to your Social Security number. Your number has been suspended due to involvement in criminal activity, and there is a warrant for your arrest in the state of Texas. To resolve this matter and reactivate your Social Security number, you need to speak with our federal claims agent immediately. Press 1 now or call us back at 1-800-772-1213. Failure to respond will result in your arrest within 24 hours.
Scam, and it fails on a point of fact before you even weigh the caller's manner: a Social Security number cannot be suspended. Not for crime, not for fraud, not for anything. The agency does not have that power and has never used it, so a call built entirely on that threat is describing a procedure that does not exist.
How to spot the Social Security Administration scam
- Your number is said to be suspended, or about to be, over criminal activity. Social Security does not suspend numbers, so the premise is the proof.
- It arrives by phone, text, email or social media asking for personal details. SSA states it will never ask for sensitive or personal information through social media, email or text message.
- There is a badge number, a case number, or a photograph of credentials. Federal law enforcement never sends photographs of credentials or badges to demand payment, and neither do federal employees. That image is a prop.
- You are asked to move money to a 'safe' or 'federal' account to protect it while the case runs. No agency does this, and the money never comes back.
- Payment is wanted in gift cards, wire transfer, cryptocurrency or cash sent by post.
- They already know part or all of your Social Security number. That is breach data, not proof of identity, and it is included precisely to make the rest sound credible.
- The account contacting you on social media has few followers, odd spelling or a handle that is slightly off, and links out to something that does not end in .gov.
What to do now
- Hang up, or close the message. You owe a caller nothing, and ending the call costs you nothing even in the vanishingly unlikely case it was real.
- Do not confirm any part of your Social Security number, even digits they appear to have already.
- Check anything genuine by contacting Social Security yourself, through ssa.gov or a number you looked up independently.
- Report it to the SSA Office of the Inspector General at oig.ssa.gov/report, which is the route SSA points people to.
- If you have already sent money or shared your number, treat it as identity theft and follow the steps at IdentityTheft.gov, then place a fraud alert with the credit bureaus.
- Check SSA's official social accounts at ssa.gov/socialmedia before believing any profile claiming to be them.
What it looks like on your phone
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Sources and reporting
Use official channels to confirm a suspicious request and report fraud.