New Scam

[Tobra]

Got a fax today, five pages total. Cover sheet says Social Security Administration USA, rest of it is ostensibly from some California Disability Determination Service. Scam is angling to get SSN and TIN it looks like, as well as email. It has state forms for me to fill out and fax back to them, no phone number, post office box in a ghetto neighborhood without any state or federal office.

Are you supposed to notify someone about attempted scams like this?

[GH85Carrera]

I wish the FBI would be interested. I doubt they care. Maybe the SSA has a fraud department. That PO box and phone number are paid for by someone. I doubt anyone but us taxpayers care.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

A fax

Haven't used a fax since the mid-90's, didn't realize people still used them

[john70t]

Scam alert. That applies to all levels of fake government agencies.

My credit was once ruined for 11 years.
Couldn't get a CC.
Couldn't even review and contest it.
Couldn't get a house loan, despite having a 50% cash down payment, in a rising market.

Surrounded in an entire world of California fraudulent no-doc loans...

The Credit Reporting Agency (Experian) demanded an original certified copy of my birth certificate.
That wasn't going to happen.
The certified credit reporting agency was promoting outright fraud.

[tevake]

Local sheriffs office might have a fraud dept.

Cheers Richard

[Tobra]

Good idea Richard, will try that.

[cmccuist]

AARP has a scam alert group. I've reported a few of the telephone scams to them. Not sure what they do with the info, but seniors are a targeted demographic, so they try and help where they can.

[john70t]

The fraud exists at the the top levels of the loan industry,


(As I've already experienced......personally....and repeatedly)

[JackDidley]

First time I have heard of a FAX scam. They keep coming up with new ways to rob a guy. I sell on Craigs list and get lots of scam replies but they are pretty much all the same . I delete them and move on.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

I wish the FBI would be interested. I doubt they care. Maybe the SSA has a fraud department.

They claim to. I’ve never had any luck communicating with them. It’s like throwing your complaint into a black hole.

[Brando]

Wow... Makes me glad I don't use Fax for anything.

Any way you can report the fraud and P. O. BOX to the local SSA office?

[Zeke]

If they used SS's name and logo SSA might be interested.

[Tobra]

Good point Z, I ought to scan it and post it up

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Healthcare still uses fax a lot... so I’ve been told. Not sure of the reason (seemed by someone to be more secure than email perhaps? Is it really?)

[Brando]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

... Not sure of the reason (seemed by someone to be more secure than email perhaps? Is it really?)

Before unencrypted email, maybe.

[pwd72s]

By sending fax not subject to postal fraud laws...scammers also use fedex or other delivery services for the same reason. USPS is pretty diligent about being used to pull off a fraud...they don't like it.

[flatbutt]

https://oig.ssa.gov/report

[Rodsrsr]

Usually the older demographic will be the people using fax machines, which is who the scammers are targeting anyway.

[Tobra]

This was at a business.

Flat, it is not really social security fraud, more a state level thing than federal.