There’s been a surge in conversation around Social Security scams in recent weeks. In early April, the Social Security Administration (SSA) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued a warning on Facebook urging people to never share their Social Security numbers with unknown callers. At the same time, interest in the topic has spiked — “social security scams” has been searched more than 550,000 times in the past month, marking its first major surge in the last year.
This follows a wave of scam emails reported in late February, where fraudsters were impersonating the SSA. The messages claimed to provide access to recipients’ Social Security statements, and officials warned at the time that clicking the links could lead to identity theft, financial loss or compromised personal data.