Police Department Media Release
Scam Alert
Fraudulent Phone Calls from the Social Security Administration (SSA)

Original Release: 12/17/2018

Media Release: Monday, December 17th 2018 11:40 AM EST

The U.S. Office of the Inspector General (OIG) continues to receive reports from across the country about fraudulent phone calls from people claiming to be from Social Security Administration (SSA). Recent reports have indicated that unknown callers are using increasingly threatening language in these calls. The callers state, due to improper or illegal activity with a citizen's Social Security number (SSN) or account, a citizen will be arrested or face other legal action if they fail to call a provided phone number to address the issue. This is a scam; citizens should not engage with these calls or provide any personal information.

SSA employees do contact citizens, generally those who have ongoing business with SSA, by telephone for customer-service purposes. However, SSA employees will never threaten you for information; they will not state that you face potential arrest or other legal action if you fail to provide information. In those cases, the call is fraudulent, and you should just hang up.

You can report such scam attempts to both the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Ohio Attorney General. Contact info follows.

https://www.ftc.gov/ or 1-877-382-4357 ☎

https://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/ or 1-800-282-0515 ☎