NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH
ALERT* [Archives] Possible Social Security/Identity Theft Phone Scam.
July 9, 2006
A Peppermint
Drive homeowner wants to alert you to a possible Social Security/identity
theft phone scam:
On Saturday, July 8,
2006 at 3:08PM, the Peppermint Drive homeowner received a call from a man
identifying himself from the Social Security office and said he was calling
“every single senior citizen” to notify they would be getting a new Social
Security card.
The homeowner noted
the following type of questions were asked by the caller:
1. You are a
senior citizen aren’t you?
2. What is your
bank? The caller indicated that Social Security checks would no longer be
direct deposited in bank, but the check funds would be transferred/setup
to pay for medical. What bank was the homeowner set up for? The
homeowner responded that if the caller was really from the Social Security
Administration, he would already have this information. He then asked if
she had her check book with her as needed the bank account number for the
new process. She refused. She asked for his name, but he indicated that
he couldn’t give it out as calling too many people to be able to give out
for future contact.
3. Do you still
live alone? Or Do you live alone? was the next type of question that he
asked. She did answer yes. The caller eventually hung up after saying
that because she didn’t cooperate that she may not be able to get help
with Social Security, and “you’ve been a bad girl.”
Caller id
displayed the originating call as “out of area”. Caller had Hispanic
accent.
Homeowner notified
her Regal Forest Neighborhood Block Captain and contacted the Police at
911. The Police made a report and insisted that she notify her
neighborhood. The Police do have the facilities to trace a call but only
use for certain circumstances such as if a threat had been made over phone.
As a Senior Citizen,
the homeowner wants you to be alert as she wasn’t expecting this type of call
and questions, and was initially caught off guard. She plans to notify her
bank and the Social Security office on Monday. Also, if this was really a
legitimate request by the Social Security Administration (SSA), then she
would have expected to receive a letter and not a phone call.
For more details on
identity theft/scams noted by the SSA, see their
website.
*
Please Note: This
notification should not be considered an official "alert" from the DeKalb
Police Department. Details for this notification were provided by Henderson
Road area residents. |