Scams Everywhere: How Not To Be a Victim in an Age of Fraud

Thirty years ago no one thought we would run our lives from our cell phones; for many at that time, a cell phone was a frivolous piece of technology only the wealthy could afford. Now kindergarteners sport their own I-Phones and we are lost without our tablets, smartwatches, and the like. Unfortunately, with technology come those who know how to use information to their benefit. Scammers are everywhere.

In Whitehall, High Peaks Federal Credit Union manager LaDonna Knox has seen firsthand the scams that come across her desk. Most recently romance scams have hit Whitehall hard.

“These scammers find their victim on online dating sites, or just call random numbers. They start talking to them about being lonely, and they just want someone to talk to at first,” Knox explained. Soon, she said, the scammer wants to meet and marry their victim, but first they want money.

“It’s sad, this has hit people of all ages in our area,” she said.

The criminals who carry out romance scams are experts at what they do and will seem genuine, caring, and believable. Con artists are present on most dating and social media sites.

Scam artists often say they are in the building and construction industry and are engaged in projects outside the U.S. That makes it easier to avoid meeting in person—and more plausible when they ask for money for a medical emergency or unexpected legal fee.

If someone you meet online needs your bank account information to deposit money, they are most likely using your account to carry out other theft and fraud schemes.

“If they love you and truly want to meet you, they will pay for it themselves - don’t become a victim!” Knox said.

Other scams to watch for include Medicare fraud and Social Security scams.

From April 2018 to January 2019, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services sent every Medicare beneficiary a new card designed to better protect against identity theft. Where the previous cards showed your Social Security number, the new cards utilize a unique, randomly assigned combination of numbers and letters called a Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI). But the new approach hasn’t stopped criminals from targeting older Americans.

During the rollout, scammers impersonating Medicare employees called many beneficiaries, telling them they needed to verify personal information or pay a processing fee to get their new card. Once the rollout was complete, the fraudsters switched gears, adopting variations on the con that claim you need to replace or upgrade your Medicare card.

WARNING SIGNS:

• You receive an unexpected call from someone claiming to work for Medicare. Actual employees will never call you without being invited to do so — for example, if you left a message at Medicare’s customer service line (800-633-4227).

• The caller claims you need to pay a fee to get a new or upgraded Medicare card.

• Someone threatens to cancel your Medicare coverage unless you provide personal information over the phone.

• You get a bill from a hospital or medical provider for care that you didn’t receive.

DOs and DON’Ts:

• DO hang up immediately.

• Do destroy your old Medicare card, if you haven’t already. Run it through a shredder, or cut it up with scissors.

• Do give your Medicare number only to trusted providers of your health care and coverage, such as doctors, pharmacists, insurers and state health agencies that work with Medicare.

• Don’t share your Medicare or Social Security number (or other personal information) with anyone who contacts you out of the blue by phone, text or email or shows up unannounced at your door.

• Don’t send or give your old Medicare card to anyone. Impostors may claim you need to return it. The government doesn’t need your old card back. Destroy it.

• Don’t believe a caller is a Medicare employee simply because he or she knows some information about you. Scammers will have done their homework.

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?

Social Security’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) received about 360,000 reports of Social Security impersonators and related scams in 2021. That’s a steep drop from 2020’s record-breaking numbers, according to a recent OIG report to Congress, but it’s not for lack of trying on the scammers’ part: T-Mobile estimates that of the 21 billion scam calls flagged by its customer security tools last year, 10 percent — or more than 2 billion — were from Social Security impostors.

One common tactic involves fake Social Security Administration (SSA) employees calling about supposed problems with your Social Security number — for example, warning that it’s been linked to criminal activity and suspended. They ask you to confirm your number so they can reactivate it or claim they can 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 often executed via robocall — the recording provides a number for you to call to remedy the problem. In other versions, the caller threatens to seize your bank account due to illicit activity or offers to help you transfer your money to keep it safe.

WARNING SIGNS:

• You receive an unsolicited communication from someone claiming to work for Social Security. Except in rare circumstances, the SSA will not call, email or text you unless you have already been in contact with the agency.

• The message asks for your Social Security number — again, something an actual SSA employee wouldn’t do.

• It threatens consequences such as arrest, loss of benefits or suspension of your Social Security number if you do not make an immediate payment by gift card, prepaid debit card, wire transfer or cryptocurrency.

DOs and DON’Ts:

• Do hang up if someone calls you out of the blue and claims to be from SSA.

• Do be skeptical if a caller claims to be from Social Security’s Office of the Inspector General.

• Do set up a My Social Security account online and check it on a monthly basis for signs of anything unusual, even if you have not yet started collecting benefits.

• Do install a robocall-blocking app on your smartphone.

• Don’t call a phone number left on your voice mail by a robocaller or listed in a suspicious email or text. If you want to contact SSA, call the customer-service line at 800-772-1213.

• Don’t assume a call is legitimate because it appears to come from 800-772-1213. Scammers use “spoofing” technology to trick caller ID.

• Don’t give your Social Security number or other personal information to someone who contacts you by email. SSA never requests information that way.

• Don’t click links in purported SSA emails without checking them. Mouse over the link to reveal the actual destination address. The main part of the address should end with “.gov/” — including the forward slash. If there’s anything between .gov and the slash, it’s fake.