Scammers, Probably in India, Are Pretending To Be from the Social Security Administration

reveurgam (60)in #life • 4 years ago (edited)

So far today, I have received 4 phone calls from different phone numbers. Each has a company name associated with it. Each call is a man's voice recording stating that my social security number is being suspended due to illegal activities.
man in dark room using computer
I know that the SSA would never call me, and this is a scam, so I hung up the first time. The other 3 times, however, I decided to mess with their minds.

They're using hacking to gain temporary access digitally to phone numbers via weaknesses in security, and then phishing (social engineering) to trick people, often by making the victim fearful or greedy.

I pressed 1, as instructed, and was connected to a woman the first time. She sounded Indian, although that would probably include Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and other neighbors of India. I asked her what was going on and she hung up. The other two that I spoke to subsequently also sounded like people from that area.

The second call I kept the guy on the line for 19 minutes. I could hear a lot of other scammers on phones in a call center. He claimed that my SSN had been used for fraudulent purchases of houses in TX, and read off two addresses. I gave him an alias and 4 digits when he asked for my SSN; despite the fact that the info was bogus, he found my case! He asked a bunch of questions, such as which bank I use, how much money is in each, and what type of accounts, how many cars I have, what my job is and other bits of info that couldn't be used to steal my identity but I lied anyways. He also gave me a bunch of numbers that he told me to write down (I didn't), including my case number, my arrest warrant # since the US Marshalls are coming to get me, and other nonsense. When asked, this man claimed to be at the SSA headquarters in Louisiana. It's actually in Woodlawn, MD! Perhaps he said that because I'd told him I'm in Baltimore. He had no questions when I told him my zip code was 01231. I even baited him by saying I had $72,500 in my bank account and two cars. He said he wasn't allowed to ask for my bank account info, nor did he request anything that could've been used against me - other than my name and the last 4 digits of my SSN, which would get them access to a lot of my accounts, if not all. I'm not worried, since nothing I gave was true. He put me on hold (muted, I'm sure) so that he could fax my declaration of innocence to the US Marshalls and came back a minute later with a fax back. He then told me I had two options to resolve the situation:

Hire a lawyer, or;
Automated resolution.

I asked for his recommendation and he actually said #1, which I agreed to. He then said good bye but didn't hang up, so clearly he thought he was reeling me in. Finally, I needed to get back to my project, so I asked: "Do you know how to identify a liar?" He said he didn't, so I said I did and reamed him out. I told him that the police were going to raid their office and that he should feel terribly guilty for ripping people off.

The 4th call, when the man said, "Social Security Administration. How can I help you?" I simply responded: "Interpol. How can I help YOU?" He mumbled something and hung up. That was funny!

I got a 5th call while writing this, but I didn't hear anything. I suppose I'll be deluged by calls from those morons. I really hope you'll share this to warn everyone!

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