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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.

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