An old scam that’s resurfaced was the subject of a recent alert by the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office and we repeat the alert and pass along another warning about another scam that has been revised.
The sheriff’s office warned about callers contacting Columbia County residents, specifically grandparents, claiming they are their grandchild, using the name of that grandchild. The caller states that he or she has been in an accident and are in the hospital, in jail or any other place that causes them to be in need of instant money to be released.
With social media and other online resources it is fairly easy for scammers to obtain the names of our grandchildren or other relatives. So, if you get a call such as this, be prepared to pay attention to your scam antenna warning you. Think it has a chance of being real? Call another relative who will really know or the facility allegedly involved and verify that it is most likely a scam.
Another alert comes via AARP which also warns about the grandkid scam and has warned about a new wrinkle on an old con. The revised version is aimed at those receiving Social Security benefits.
AARP advises that financial scams involving people pretending to be government employees are not restricted only to those Internal Revenue Service telephone cons that have been the subject of numerous warnings.
AARP reports a warning about a scheme in which someone posing as a Social Security Administration employee calls from a phone number with a 323 area code. In some cases, the swindler tells victims they are due a 1.7 percent cost-of-living adjustment increase in their Social Security benefits.
The impersonator then asks the victim to verify all of his or her personal information, including name, date of birth and Social Security number, in order to receive the increase. If the impostor is able to acquire this data, the person can use it to contact the SSA and request changes to the victim’s direct deposit, address and phone information.
According to the warning published by AARP, the SSA will sometimes reach out to citizens by phone for customer service purposes, but the agency’s reps will not ask for personal information this way. Anyone who receives a suspicious call is encouraged to report it to the Office of the Inspector General at 1-800-269-0271 or online via oig.ssa.gov/report.The SSA’s toll-free customer service number for anyone with questions or concerns is 1-800-772-1213, which can be contacted from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Be alert to these and other cons that scammers will continue to dream up to try to separate us from our money.