Social security fraud, is there anything I can do?

Yes, IMMEDIATELY REPORT ALL DETAILS TO THE LOCAL SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION....This will protect her and they will investigate. DO NOT EVER GIVE OUT ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION ON THE PHONE. Get those cards and numbers away from her. Also, call Medicare at once. And if you talk to the scammer, tell them your attorney is handling everything and the police have been notified as well. That might help not getting the calls.

Marshcath,

Maybe it would be helpful if we all knew whether or not Mom lives with you!

If you're not there with her, that may change the responses you're getting.

Hang in there!!

The best thing to do is not answer the phone. Let it go to voicemail.

It’s robocalls, once you pick up they know that they have a live line and continue to call.

This the season and it’s been a tough year. Scammers are feeling the pinch like everyone else. I wonder if they put as much effort into legal work as they do scamming if they wouldn’t get ahead. Anyway, the S.S. Calls and the IRS one about a sheriff being on the way to arrest you are the most terrifying for most people. A friend’s dad fell for the IRS one. Without telling my friend he went out and bought $2,000. worth of Best Buy gift cards, came home, called back as he had been directed, and read the PIN numbers to them, then told my friend who called Best Buy immediately but the scammers had already used the cards on computers.
Another fun one is the “granny call”. I’ve gotten several and if I have time I lead them on. Best way is if you get one ask immediately if it’s Joe or Mike or any name that isn’t one of your grandkids. If they say it is, let them tell their silly story, helping them with details if they need it. When you get tired of it, break the news to them that you don’t have a Joe or Mike, but be prepared because they’ll be real pissed off and call you names. Also beware the Microsoft account, automobile warranty and any calls asking for personal details. If your folks have email, Yikes! The scammers are going nuts there. The biggest is a “receipt for an online purchase” usually for $100. or so. The receipt says if you wish to cancel follow the submit button where you can unwittingly give them all the info they need. This is also being used fraudulently for your bank, Amazon, Apple.
Keep up with this stuff, read AARP fraud alerts, and remember, 'tis the season.

I use a line to answer unknown numbers and I get hung up on all the time. Maybe you can get your mom to use it and get hung up on too.

Ring...

Answer....Caller, you're on the air! What's your name please?

Click...

Yahoo, works every time. 👋👋👋👏👏👏

Marshcath: Medicare cards were changed in 2018 to no longer have the individual's social security number. They now contain letters and numbers. If this is not the case for your mother's Medicare card, you should investigate and have the correction made.

Call SS to ask them for her new card. They issued new cards with a new number without the ssn on it any longer. By now one of your medical providers should have been asking you for the new card.

See if you can get her to ask for a return phone number when people call about Medicare or other private info. May or may not work if they sound believable to her. I hate those callers, too. Someone in the big scheme of things should be able to figure out how to id the real phone number of where the calls come from. And the US should not be leasing/renting/etc phone lines in the US to anyone outside our country without a LOT of credentials to prove who they are. -- There was a guy on the news who spends all his spare time talking to scammers and getting into their phone systems/computers and wiping off their files. I say kudos to him!!

I hate the robo text messages! I never click on links, ever!

Your mom’s Medicare card should not have her SSN on it. New cards were issued to everyone with a number that is not the SSN. Doctors should not accept the card with the SSN. If you did receive the new card, contact social security.

Well, this is what I would do. I'd get someone I truly trusted and have her call as if she were Social Security and tell your Mom that they have become aware that a scammer has been attempting to orchestrate a scam on her, and that she is advised not to reveal her Social Security number to anyone who calls to ask for it.
That her Social Security number should never be given to anyone who calls her. Only ever share it if SHE HERSELF has initiated the call and therefore knows who she's dealing with.

THIS IS SCAM! SCAM! SCAMMY SCAM!
Don't worry, these calls come from India (often from Mumbai) and they have no merit other than try to give them information and money usually by buying a gift cards and giving them the gift card number.

DO NOT ENGAGE with these con artists, do not "confirm" your address or social security number or any other sensitive information.
I have several calls a month from "IRS", from "Social Security Administration" or from "Computer Repair", from "Medicare" etc.
The calls vary from solicitous to threatening. "You committed tax fraud! We will send police after you!" Yeah! Right!

I am sure you have more pressing problems in your life than to deal with fake calls.

Just remember - government agencies like SSA, IRS, Medicare will NEVER EVER call you if there is a problem. They will send you a letter if they need something from you.

Would writing a note on/near the phone help? Also, having a conversation with Mom regarding the fraud.
Good luck. It's so terrible that there are such dishonest people in the world!

A man with an exceptionally heavy Indian accent and with a great deal of crowded phone bank noise in the background called my parent's home to say he was from Medicare and there were new cards being issued that contained gold chips in them that were GPS monitoring devices. As I quickly researched this particular scam online, I asked how was I supposed to know that he was actually from Medicare? He got angry and tried to bully me into believing him. Wow. I told him I had captured his number and would be reporting it to the FCC and FBI fraud departments. Both have websites for this purpose . Then he hung up in disgust. It just never ends. The greed, corruption and lack of integrity.

Marshcath,

There used to be a function on a landline that would trace the call and log it with the phone provider.
I have no idea if it still exists. And you would have to do it right after the call. It was something like *68.

Not sure what your Moms mental status is. That might be too complicated.

Maybe a big visual aide near her phone reminding her to "NEVER GIVE OUT YOUR SSN "!

If it's financially possible, enroll her in an identity theft program such as Life Lock. They'll notify you if there is any suspicious activity!

This is a tough one!!
Best wishes!!

Before hiding everything with your parents social on it. (Which is a waste of time for some) My dad 97 knows his social security number by heart. I am 67 ex military wife of the 70’s. I can recite my social, my ex’s social and my dads social at any time. We used to have to give social security numbers for every transaction on post. They get imbedded in your brain. So before you hide these documents ask your parent what their social security number is. You may be surprised to know they know it.

So many of the numbers showing on my Caller ID are local people or companies that most likely would have NO reason to call me so I know that the call is false. I rarely pick up the phone until AFTER the answering machine-that way I know who is calling before I talk to them. A family friend allows the answering machine to answer ALL her phone calls. And then, if the person calling is someone that she wants to talk to, she will call them back

Sometimes, if I pick up the phone before the answering machine does, then (like Cascai), I will have fun with these robocallers---
Anyone remember Carol Burnett's character who would yell "GGEEOORRGGEE" in a grating voice and dress in the most mismatched bathrode or dress. Poor Harvey Korman usually played her husband.
When someone calls I talk in that grating voice and complain about all sorts of things about my (fake) husband and yell for my husband to talk to this person. Or I repeat what the caller says as if I don't understand what they are talking about. Or I act as if the person calling is a good friend and gossip with the caller about nonsensical or untrue topics.

While Mom was alive and living with me, she would sit in the background trying not to laugh during my role-playing on the phone.

Unfortunately these types of calls are now a part of our life and we have to be smarter than they are. ☏

Definitely reach out to Better Business Bureau and register numbers they’re call in from.

We tend to think even as non elderly people that if the phone rings you answer it. We are training ourselves in this new world of scammers to not answer every call. This stuff happens to all ages now. It's doubly difficult as an elderly person with dementia. If your situation is such that you can go into her phone account you can set it up so the phone does not ring when calls come in. I have done this for my landline but I can keep the landline to make calls out. I can always look at caller ID later so I control who I talk to. I love it! No more scammers to deal with. Important people like family, friends and doctors have my cell phone number. Having a cell phone doesn't stop them either though. Is there a list of phone numbers she is ok to answer - perhaps list those for her and see if she will use caller ID to only answer those. You can set up particular ringtones for each # that she is ok to answer. I took a different approach with my mom and worked on her behavior. I did a bulletin that I kept by my mom's landline phone which stated in all caps and bold letters not to answer calls or speak to anyone other than me and one other family member who worked with me to reinforce the message. I explained what happens now with calls. I kept reinforcing that with her because she resisted in the beginning. I would ask her if she trusted me. Build her trust. You are fighting these creeps through her who are working on her behavior and trust to get her information. Fight fire with fire. My mom stopped answering the calls. Set up an account online with Social Security (everyone should do regardless of age) so it prevents scammers from doing it and getting the checks. Social Security told me that. The legal route is advised 100% yet in my experience of witnessing other families go that route to see nothing happen or change on their end and in the meantime they have convinced the victim they are on their side. We as family members are the best defense in my humble opinion. I would advise to work with her bank/financial folks too to see what they can do if anything in case they try to get that info. Do you have POA? Best wishes to you and yours.

Nomorobo phone app 1.99 a month gets rif of all telemarketers maybe i get 1 that creeps in every 5 days

and to anyone else reading these,,,,,,they are called spoofing when they use someone else's number but calling from somewhere else.  so most times it is pointless to call them back on the number shown because it won't be who called you.  yeah reporting to FCC is a joke unless you want to "pay" for a "formal" complaint and then you will still wait for months.  I know.....I worked for them..........so it is a pain in the butt.  We quit answering the phone unless we absolutely know who it is.  good luck to all on these type of calls.

well first report to social security.  And you know that SS will NEVER call you......they are scams.  Take anything in the house that has your mothers SS # on it so she can't mistakenly give it out again.  I am sure there is someone else to call but right now I can't think of who it is, but I am sure someone else on here can enlighten you.  wishing you luck.

These telemarketers should be smacked with a dead fish! I HATE the endless loop of calls we get on the landline and dang it, now I'm getting them on my cell phone, which I use only for communication with my kiddoes.

I was at my mom's one day when she got one--her car warranty had expired (!) and this forceful guy was just wringing her dry, she was crying over it, thinking her 20 yo car was not protected. Somehow he'd made her think she was going to get arrested!

I took the phone, chewed him out, royally and told him to remove her number from the list---but we all know that's pointless.

I will sometimes take a call and lead the person on--last week when one guy thought he had gotten some serious info from me (all lies) he finally said "Now, we just need your social security number, dear" And I answered "5". He waits, and waits and says, "no, there's a few more numbers" and I said ". No, it's 5". He blew up at me for wasting 20 minutes of his day. laughed and said "Dude, YOU called ME".

DH and I can easily avoid these calls, but mother cannot. Finally we told her to quit answering her phone unless it was a number she absolutely recognized. That helped, but I don't know how much money she'd given away in the past.

If your LO can read the incoming number, one tipoff is that they usually use ENTIRE CITIES as the place of origin. I will see the incoming call and yell to DH--'hey, Portland Oregon is calling us!!"

I would be careful of answering the phone, however. I got a call from someone who said "this is your power company calling and we are going to shut off your power." To my mind, if the power company really were calling, they would state the NAME of the company, and ask for the head of household by name. I was angry, so I called back and told the person off for frightening people. I said, "you don't even know my name." Then he started reading off my name and phone number. I was stupid to call back on my own line. I don't know what his scam was, but I put myself in his crosshairs.

Can you get it when she naos? Turn the phone down so she can't hear them call. Block the number but that will only work temporarily. Turn phone off. Disconnect phone till you can get a handle on things. They will call from 4am till 12 at night to get the information.

I sometimes answer them and lead them on for entertainment, I give them nonsensical answers- I've been cursed out more than a few times ....during the election I asked one who they voted for- ma'am I voted for the one that won. Who won ? - he then hung up on me. My dad has been very ill and I spend a lot of time at their house - it's almost a game for me now- they are on do not call but daily the call come in - lots of them - I tell them its illegal and take me off the list nothing works really but hanging up. I go into their account and regular block numbers but to no avail. My mom has called me in a panic that social security is calling her, a few years ago my dad was upset that the FBI had called him because his car was used to run drugs to Mexico - it's criminal really that this is allowed.

You should have her SS automatically going into her Bank instead of being mailed if you don't already.

Explain to your mom to direct all phone calls of this kind to you.

Tell her to only give out your name and phone #.

Set up the phone for no soliciting calls of any kind.

The new Medicare cards do not have her social security number on them. Ask Medicare for a replacement card. Register her phone numbers with the Do Not Call Registry https://www.donotcall.gov/. This won't completely stop the calls but does help a bit. You can also put a freeze on her credit account (with the credit card agencies like Experian) or a credit watch so that nobody can open a new account with her information. It makes things more difficult when you do have to open a new account, but may be worth it.

Block the number as well.

Freeze her credit, my dad was constantly falling prey to the spammers that change your electric service and I was constantly changing it back, I finally got them to realize that they are all trying to steal stuff from them and to not pick up or to hang up- some still get through.

If you haven’t already you need to freeze her credit reports at all 4 agencies so no one can take a loan in her name. Create an a count at the IRS and create an account at social security all in the effort so it makes it harder for someone to use her identity. And why does she have the old Medicare card??