A Cressona couple was recently duped by a scammer purporting to be from the Social Security Administration.
According to State Police in Schuylkill Haven, a Cressona woman reports that she was contacted by phone from someone claiming to be with the Social Security Administration.
This bogus agent told the local woman to get large quantities of Walmart gift cards to alleviate the fake problem. The Cressona woman was to purchase the gift cards and then surrender their PINs with a text message back to the scammers.
The scammers allegedly told the Cressona woman that if she didn’t comply, agents would show up and arrest her. So, she tells police that she withdrew money from her and her husband’s joint bank account and bought between $6,000 and $10,000 in gift cards.
Social Security Scams Persist
The Social Security Administration is well aware that scammers and impostors exist, purporting to be agents of SSA. SSA reminds the public that it’ll never call to address any issues with your Social Security account, including payments.
SSA says it’ll only contact you via letter, and it’ll contain information on possible payments due or the appeals process.
The use of gift cards as a means of payment is a guaranteed sign that something is a scam. In reality, these are means of stealing personal financial information.
The Social Security Administration put together this one-pager to help the public identify potential scammers pretending to be SSA agents.
EN-05-10597
