Benefits / Social Security Fraud

Pandemic profiteers who stole millions through shady schemes and laundered the proceeds have been brought to justice in the Centennial State. Following news that the UK government...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new report from the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) projects that Americans are losing an estimated $119 billion every year to online scams. This “true” c...

[author: Dov Soloman] The fraud landscape in 2025 has consisted of investigations into investment, cryptocurrency, and other cyber frauds, as well as key enforcement changes in bo...

Everyone has been told not to share personal information with strangers or give money for a scenario that seems too good to be true. Yet during 2024, scammers stole $12.5 billion f...

On a normal summer day in June, Manny Guerrero, a soft-spoken Vietnam War veteran living in Las Vegas, picked up the phone and was told he had beaten the odds and won. The voice on...

Americans lost over $12.5 billion to scams in 2024, with nearly $3 billion from government imposter scams where criminals pose as Social Security Administration officials to steal money or personal information. Seniors are deliberately targeted through threats of arrest or promises of benefit increases, with scammers demanding payment via gift cards, cryptocurrency, or wire transfers. The key protection: legitimate government employees will never threaten you or demand immediate payment, so anyone receiving such communications should hang up, ignore it, and report it at ssa.gov/scam.

# Tax Scam Alert As the 2026 tax filing season begins, authorities warn that scammers are increasingly impersonating the IRS and tax preparers through phone calls, emails, texts, and fake websites to steal personal and financial information, with common tactics including phishing links, false refund promises, and threats of legal action. The scams disproportionately target people unfamiliar with IRS procedures, and the IRS never initiates contact via email, text, or social media or demands immediate payment through gift cards or cryptocurrency. To protect yourself, file your taxes early, verify information directly through irs.gov, avoid clicking unsolicited links, and remember that legitimate IRS contact begins with a letter in the mail.

# Travel-Related Scams Summary As spring and summer travel approaches, consumers should be aware of two major scams targeting travelers: fraudulent passport websites that mimic official government sites and charge fees for free services, and fake TSA PreCheck enrollment schemes sent via email and text that steal personal information and money. To protect yourself, use only the official Travel.State.Gov website for passport services and apply for TSA PreCheck directly through legitimate enrollment centers found in airports and other locations. If you encounter fraud, report it to DSSCrimeTips.state.gov or contact the TSA directly.

People over 50 are particularly vulnerable to fraud, with over $11 million reported in scams during just a nine-month period in 2025, according to a presentation by Coastal Maine Regional Broadband and local police. Most scams involve impostors contacting victims through email, text, or phone with urgent messages designed to cloud judgment, sometimes building fake relationships over time to gain trust. To protect yourself, experts recommend verifying unexpected contacts directly with the person, avoiding clicking links or sharing passwords, watching for language errors and mismatched email addresses, and declining friend requests from people already in your network.

Your Social Security number is highly valuable to criminals who can use it to commit identity theft, open fraudulent accounts, and file fake tax returns, yet many Americans share it too freely without realizing the risk until damage occurs. Scammers use convincing tactics like impersonating government agencies through calls, creating fake emails and text messages that look legitimate to pressure people into revealing their SSN. To protect yourself, never share your Social Security number in response to unsolicited calls, emails, or texts—instead, hang up and call official numbers directly from verified sources, delete suspicious emails, and avoid clicking links from unknown senders.