Wherever there’s a charitable cause, someone out there’s planning on capitalizing on the people who are desperate for help, and it’s why government programs are often one of the most common places you’ll run into a scam.
Opportunistic scammers will use the personal information you’ve submitted, usually your social security number, to take on credit in your name and slowly take out loans that you’ll be paying off for the rest of your life.
When this happens, experts often refer to it as identity theft, and it’s become a major issue as the internet age has developed over the years, allowing just about anyone with enough skill access to all of your personal data that are stored on a cloud somewhere.
Of course, you can’t simply just stay offline, as it’s become mandatory for work, interacting with family members and just overall keeping up with the news.
What you can do, however, is get informed on the numerous scams that are running loose at the moment, and if you’re prepared when you do encounter one, you’ll know what to do and how to react.
We’ll go over some of the more common scams related to these welfare programs.
An issue with your social security number
From time to time, you may run into scammers pretending to be a person from Social Security working on your case, calling you to notify you that your social security number had been compromised.
You may then be presented with the option to give them some extra information in order to resolve the issue, which you absolutely must not do.
The truth is, there is no issue with your benefits, and you’re on the call with someone after your personal information, which they plan on using for identity theft later on, and these things are done on a massive scale.
Thousands of Americans get scammed like this every year, causing millions of dollars to be lost.
You should note that a real social security agent will never try to collect any information over the phone, instead, they’ll contact you through mail or ask you to come into the office to resolve any issue that may have arisen.
Cost of living adjustment money
Sometimes, a scammer may not inform you that there’s an issue with your benefits, especially if that scam has proven to be ineffective, so they’ll turn to some different strategies instead.
A common one is informing you that you’re due for an increase in your cost of living adjustment benefits, after which they’ll ask for some of your personal information, sometimes even pay a fee for the supposed service they’re offering you.
Whichever you’re presented with, it’s sure to be a scam, and you best steer clear of phone calls and e-mails asking for personal information like this.
The fact of the matter is, the social security administration actually adjusts your benefits on its own every month, and there’s no need for you to provide any information to them.
Just remember how important your social security number is, and if you’re aware of what someone can do with it, you’ll be sure not to give it away that easily.
Medicare activation
Healthcare is a very pressing matter for more than a few Americans, and that’s particularly true for the elderly, which are dependent on both social security benefits and the benefits that Medicare provides.
Seeing as the two are connected, scammers will often try to extract personal info from you by claiming that it’s necessary for your Medicare activation, which is categorically untrue, as enrolment for the service is automatic if you’re already collecting your social security checks.
In fact, if you’re about to turn 65, you should be receiving official paperwork in the mail very soon, where you’ll also receive instructions on how Medicare works and the benefits you’re entitled to.
However, if you’re not a social security user just yet, but you’re in need of medical assistance, you can apply for medicare up to 3 months before you turn 65, either through the phone or online at their official website.
Avoiding these scams
Regardless of how you look at it, the best way to avoid these scams is to employ some common sense when you’re receiving a call from a strange number.
However, that’s not always the case, and scammers can use specialized devices to mask their caller ID, fooling you into thinking that you’re actually on the phone with a social security agent.
As a general rule of thumb, you should remember that you’ll never be providing any personal information over the phone, no matter what the case may be, and if they’re asking you to pay a fee on top of it all, it may be for the best to just hang up the phone immediately.