Citizen Alert - Social Security Scam

Citizen Alert

Social Security Scam

(Names and numbers have been removed and/or changed to protect the identity of those involved)

On 05/10/2022, at approximately 0800 hours, officers spoke to Betty Smith via the phone for a fraud call. Betty said on 05/09/2022, she received a phone call from ###-###-#### from a person claiming to be with the Social Security Office. The person she spoke to advised Betty that someone was using her SSN# to open numerous accounts with different banks and had been charging money to those accounts racking up $85,000 in fraudulent charges. The person advised Betty she needed to wire approximately $85,000 to ABC Lawn Care and when she received a new SSN card she would get her money back. Betty said she questioned the validity of the claim and asked what the lawn care company had to do with the situation. Betty said the person became angry with her and told her to contact the St. George Police and that we would confirm they are real. Betty said she called what she thought was our police department and spoke to a female sergeant who told her the person she was talking to was legit. I asked Betty if both people had strong accents and she said yes.

Betty wired the $85,000 as requested. Some time afterward, Betty realized she had been scammed. Betty called 911 to report the scam. Betty said she was going back to the bank the next morning to see if they could reverse the wire. I provided Betty this incident number and asked her to call me back with the results. Betty called me back and stated the bank had not yet sent off the wire due to system issues. Betty said they canceled the wire and she has not lost any money.

I called the above number and the phone was answered by a male with a thick Indian accent. It was clear from the background noise that it was a call center. This is a common style of scam aimed towards the elderly which is being conducted by individuals overseas. Please stay vigilant as these groups make a lot of money preying on the elderly in our communities and are very difficult to catch. This is not a few bad apples, there is an entire industry of scammers whose primary occupation is getting unsuspecting people to send money. If you are ever concerned about any suspicious phone calls, please speak to a trusted relative or contact the police department at 435-627-4300 before sending any money or giving information. Remember that you are in control when you’re on the phone, you can always hang up.