A Lakewood resident was phone scammed out of $4,500, and there’s likely no way to retrieve it.
Police say the resident received a scam call from someone claiming to be from the Social Security office, and unfortunately fell for it, leaving him $4,500 in the red.
Residents are also reporting a recent surge in Social Security phone scams.
Lakewood police are warning residents to be vigilant and not fall for Socail Security calls, or any phone calls which demand payment by gift card, such as iTunes cards or Google Play cards.
Seriously??? How many more times can this happen in our community??? Are these people so uninformed???
I guess those are the same people who think you have to wear a mask…
Blame the victim?
Most spammers target the elderly. Typically the elderly are not online, do not read TLS, or other news websites. Perhaps you could use your time to inform this population. That would be very productive.
Ohhh…. another uber chocham who KNOWS we don’t have to wear masks….great thinking let’s try for NY red zone status!! Because YOU know better…..
The SSA will never make an unsolicited call to you and ask for your Social Security number or other personal identifying information.
The Attorney General’s Office urges New Hampshire residents to be vigilant and take the following steps:
• Do not engage with the caller;
• Hang up the phone immediately;
• Do not return unknown calls, texts, or e-mails;
• Do not give money or personal information;
• Report the scam to the Office of the Inspector General – Social Security Administration at oig.ssa.gov/report or 1-800-269-0271.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write all this excellent information for us,
I got a few of these calls in the last 3-4 weeks. I, of course, indulge them, feign shock & dismay & give them a phony SS # they can work on.
After a few minutes of this nonsense I tell them they’re a scam & hang up on them.
These are the lowest people in the world. But, truthfully, at this point – there’s no reason anyone should be falling for their scam,
And to the victim I say: HaMAkom Yimalei Chesroncha !!
I actually got such a call today. I decided to play along with them and give them a fake name, but they actually had my real name which is scary. You never know what they can pull off the internet these days. The SSA and IRS never call out of the blue by phone and definitely never ask for payment over the phone!
And you wonder why the contact tracer phone calls are viewed with such skepticism and suspicion
another give away – these scammers have distinctly foreign accents. The Social Security administration does not have to outsource it’s calls to somewhere in the far east. I have also found the scam callers to be aggressive and rude, whereas officials working for the govt tend to be more courteous.
I got a call last week and I kept on calling them back till they blocked my number
lol! that’s brilliant!
For some reason I get multiple scam calls a day. I think my number must have belonged to a gullible senior once upon a time and I somehow landed up on their list of potential victims. I have so much fun with them. I drei them a kup with all sorts of shtisim and naarishkeit and scam them back. It’s kedai the whole thing!
You can register your number with donotcall.gov & sometimes it will help. After 30 days of being on the List you can report these calls to that same website.
Watch out for the Amazon scam…I got a few calls this week claiming to be Amazon, they said there were charges on my card that need to be verified and that I should call back