Millions Alerted To Social Security Warning 

People in New York are being warned about a new potential scam that is coming from an internal Social Security office in New York.

Fraudsters apparently have been able to infiltrate an office, and are supplying flyers with information about helplines that are not correct.

Every year, hundreds of recipients of Social Security fall to scams that criminals conduct. They steal money from people who are among the most vulnerable, including those who are disabled, retired or survivors of claimants who are deceased.

This new scam, though, is coming from within an office of the Social Security Administration located in Harlem, New York.

On Sunday, The Intercept published an article that outlined that reporter and social media law attorney Shawn Musgrave was given a flyer that had contact information that was supposedly for another Manhattan SSA office.

He called the number, though, and found out that it was all a scam. An employee who worked at the Harlem SSA office gave him the flyer while he was attempting to get a replacement Social Security card.

As Musgrave said:

“It was a cheery automated message, not what I expected when I called the number for the Social Security Administration’s primary office in Manhattan.”

When he called, he was notified by an automated message that he was selected to receive a reward of $100. He then was told to “press 1” so that he would be connected with an agent at SSA.

After some digging, it was revealed that the number that was printed on the flyer was one number off what the real number is for the SSA office in Manhattan. Musgrave notified a desk agent at the SSA office, they informed one of the managers.

The officer told The Intercept that “we were made aware” of the scam that happened and “that’s why we stopped giving those out.”

Kathy Stokes, who works as the director of fraud prevention for the Fraud Watch Network at the AARP, said:

“There are a ton of scams that use government agencies. [These include] pretending to be the SSA and saying there’s a problem with your number or that your card has been suspended. But nothing like this.

“I find that very concerning. I can’t imagine how that would happen other than that someone on the inside being involved in it.”

The Social Security Administration told Newsweek that the inspector general’s office responsible for the SSA is looking into this scam incident. It also clarified what the real number of the Manhattan SSA office is.

The SSA had issued a release earlier this month that said scammers use many different tactics, following what’s known as the five Ps: “Pretend, Prize or Problem, Pressure and Payment.”

In the release, the SSA said:

“Other common tactics include citing ‘badge numbers,’ using fraudulent Social Security letterhead, and creating imposter social media pages to target individuals for payment or personal information.”

This proves just the lengths to which scammers will go to steal people’s money.