Who’s pretending to be the government now?

Believe it Joe. Two times scammers almost got me. They come off believable. When I was going to school to get my Masters, I was awarded a $9000.00 grant for student loans. Several days later, I got a call indicating some branch of the govt provides a select few a $9000 grant (something you don't pay back) for students, doing well, have no criminal background, etc. and based on my registration and their investigation, I was one of the chosen people. I called the police who put me in touch with the right people. Fast forward. Now I am 62 years old, I just filed for social security benefits 7/23/19, four days later on 7/27/19 I have been receiving calls daily (today I received four) indicating my SS card has been suspended due to suspicious activity, etc. SS says it was just coincidental it started after I filed for SS. I called and filed the proper reports. But...it's not to say, it scared me and I had to know how to hunt it down and get it stopped (the best I can anyway). However my 82 YO mother... a victim waiting to be taken. If it's a doctor, or anyone portraying themselves as someone in authority, from the government, social security, medicare, etc., she is very gullible, naive and tolerating and accepts their word as gold. Not sure if it's primarily a generational thing or what (believe what your told and don't ask questions) or not; however scamming has gotten very high tech, and if your not real techy or elderly, I believe these people are the most vulnerable. My real concern is that both times I was prayed on...were times I just filed something with the government (e.g. a federal student loan for $9000 and for social security benefits). We just need to keep educating one another on how to protect ourselves. Best of luck to us all. Here are some of the numbers (although probably fake) calling posing as social security staff that have suspended your card and/or any future benefits: 833-319-4991, 956-984-5247, 956-821-6488, 956-835-3979, 956-806-7490. One of these numbers was actually traceable. To me, scams can be very believable to certain people...we don't know everyone's situ as to why or how they got caught up in it (e.g. aging process, dementia, offer fits most recent situ someone just went through like me...). Let's just keep educating one another on how to protect ourselves and loved ones against the scamming. Thank you

Why are these people not prosecuted? Why are they not in jail?

Senator Sessions hasn't been a senator for a few years now, but I'm not surprised at these criminals using a household name that the general public might recognize! If you don't know the caller personally, don't answer and just let the call go to voicemail. DO NOT return calls to anyone who leaves a message from a government agency. Anything official will be mailed to your home (IRS audit, social security or Medicare notifications, unpaid fines, etc.).

Keep up to date by reading these FTC bulletins. You will learn that numbers reported by Caller ID are completely untrustworthy. Therefore, no one can check out a company given only a bogus phone number.

Because, unfortunately, caller ID can be spoofed. The call probably did NOT originate from the number on the caller ID.

reporting the number does little or nothing - it is a fake number like the caller ID is spoofed. THey can change the number to anything they want. You can block it, and they will change it and still call you. best not to answer.

I have received several calls supposedly from SS-it says "there has been fraudulent activity on my social, press 1 for an officer". I don't answer any calls that I don't recognize the number, if someone legit is calling they leave a message & I can return call if appropriate. The number that is sending this message about social activity is 202-442-1146

Unfortunately many of the scams are from overseas and routed through state side and even local numbers. Unfortunately this makes it hard to both stop them and to prosecute them. I have though heard of state side scammers getting cought and charged.

I too annoyed Texas.went thru the same identical scam.Only I lost money thru a amazon card.

I too was following along because a friends picture on Messenger led me to believe I was speaking with her. when the gift cards came into play I stopped communicating, however they got a lot of personal info as well as a photo. What can be done to stop this?

These very same people got my mom, only I told her it was a scam. She refused to listen to me. She gave them her fb login and they completely took over her fb to scam all her friends. Luckily I was able to contact everyone to stop them.

I received text thru messenger from a relative. The text started with the general how you doing. I thought I was speaking with my relative. Then they asked if I heard about GGF. Some Grant to help families, for housing, medical bills, credit debt, business endeavors etc. They told me that they received a Money Grant for 100,000 and I could too. They sent me the link to apply for the grant which led to another person on FB who acted as the agent for the Grant. I was already suspicious even though my relative turned me on to the grant. I know that if it seems to good to be true it's probably not. With my name address and phone number they found me eligible for eighty thousand dollars. But then asked me to pay for the documents and processing fees. The funny part, " go to the market and buy 3 hundred in Amazon cards". I already new before this point that it was a scam. I wanted to know how and where they wanted me to send the money. They told me when I get the cards let them know and wait for further instructions. Using my relatives FB profile had me for a second but I asked my relative to call me. The answer to that was, "I have a problem with my ears that's why I'm texting.

I got an email like yours from facebook as well, posing to be a friend who got a grant by simply texting a number out of Sacremento, CA. I got suspicious because, one normally needs to fill out paperwork and apply for a grant. Also they wanted my mother's maiden name. I looked up the number for the Federal Trade commission and verified that this was a scam. Fortunately they only got my name. I got several harrassing texts over the next few days, and deleted them without replying as advised by the FTC representative.

Same thing happened to me, but, they didn't get any info from me. I was told to contact, via text, a government agent. When I asked what agency she was with, the only response was "Federal Government". I stopped the process at this point.

I had the same thing happen to me this past Monday but they didn't ask for any money. I gave them the same info you did but when they told me that I had been qualified for a blow your mind amount of grant money, I knew something wasn't right. I contacted my friend on Messenger and asked her if she had sent me the message and she said NO. I then reported the Messenger break into her account to Messenger and I also reported it to FTC, with all the details of the conversation. I never thought this would happen to me but I feel different now.

I just got caught up in the same scam as the AnnoyedTX. I received a text from a friend of mine through Facebook Messenger. She told me that she and another friend had just received a grant from the Government for $50,000 each. She knew about my health issues and said that she would send me the number to text this claiming agent. I asked a few questions and all she said was to follow his lead and he would tell me what to do. So I did I gave them all the information they asked for, I also got suspicious when they sent me a list stating that I needed to pay for the taxes and for personal delivery. I could choose how much I wanted to receive. That amount would determine the cost I needed to pay to them. I said I did not have that amount to send to them right now I would send it later. They said they would wait but I needed to hurry up. I decided I needed to see what new scams might be out there and then I found this one. I thought I had them all figured out. They were supposed to be from The Lyons Club. They pick on the old and low-income people with an urgent need. Horrible! and Cruel!!

I was talked into this I fell for it and sent them money I never heard from them after they got the money. Mine was on messager. I was told that the money was for tax purposes. I talked with my friend also but it was to late.

Never ever give out your ssn .

The same happened to me. I want to be sure I've done everything I'm supposed to do. But I'm not really sure of all that entails.

The same happened to me. I want to be sure I've done everything I'm supposed to do. But I'm not really sure of all that entails.

so what all did u do after u gave your ssn? I mean in terms of trying to prevent them from using your ssn for fraud?

Rod C, We get the exact same Robot caller claiming to be from Medicare, at least 4 or 5 times a day. We have tried everything. The call says to punch 9 to be placed on the do not call list. That is a hoax and does nothing. We have punched 1 to talk to the advocate (real person) and as soon as we ask to be taken off the list they hang up! What a nuisance. The number they call from shows our local area code and the ID number keeps changing.

Excellent idea!

Nice lovely beautiful federal Trade

I got three of those today about 30 min. apart claiming that my SS numbers was being recalled "for some reasons". To find out more I had to call them at some Calif. number. The woman even gave a name "This is agent ... " She gave the same name each time . I don't call back. If SS wants to talk to me about a problem, with all the scams by phone, I hope they will find another way.

Yes I got scammed for $2100. The scammers are very persuasive. When I hung up... a police officer called me and stated that I need to cooperate or else they will arrest me. They persuaded me to by a target gift card and wants me to withdraw all my money and they will put it in a safeguard account. Good thing I called my husband and he deal with this. But too late they already scammed me. Good part is they are not successful to get all my money.