Your Social Security Number Isn't Being Stopped

Someone is targeting people in New York claiming to be from the social security administration but its a scam.

Joseph Hoffman of Clinton says he got a call from someone named William. "He claims to be calling from the social security administration and says they had stopped your social security number."

The number the scammers are calling from is (310) 359-8976. "It shows it's a California number but he states they are based in Texas," says Hoffman who blocked the number. "They kept calling so I called Verizon and they were able to block them."

The New York Police Department is seeing an increase in this social security scams this year with over 200 complaints of more than two million dollars in losses.

"Sophisticated phone scams use the trust victims have in their own governmental and law enforcement agencies against them," NYPD Community Affairs Chief Nilda Hofmann said. "Victims of this type of phone scam are not limited to senior citizens. These criminals are targeting every strata of society, and every demographic is vulnerable."

Here's what to know:

*Your Social Security number is not about to be suspended. You don’t have to verify your number to anyone who calls out of the blue. And your bank accounts are not about to be seized.
*SSA will never call to threaten your benefits or tell you to wire money, send cash, or put money on gift cards. Anyone who tells you to do those things is a scammer. Every time.
*The real SSA number is 1-800-772-1213, but scammers are putting that number in the caller ID. If you’re worried about what the caller says, hang up and call 1-800-772-1213 to speak to the real SSA. Even if the wait time is long, confirm with the real SSA before responding to one of these calls.
*Never give any part of your Social Security number to anyone who contacts you. Or your bank account or credit card number.

You will NEVER be contacted by police or the Social Security Administration and be asked to give money or information over the phone. If contacted by anyone claiming to represent any such agency and asking for money, you should immediately hang up the phone.

If you received one of these calls, you can report it to the FCC.