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| Prepare and Beware of Stimulus Scams! |
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Yesterday, the Social Security Administration informed national aging advocates in Washington of a number of tools and a fraud alert to help consumers and information specialists understand the one time economic stimulus payment.
Information and Referral (I&R) programs across the nation should expect and plan for heightened call volume during April and May, as the federal government gears up to distribute $250 economic recovery payments to more than 50 million people who receive Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits.
Not only is I&R call volume expected to increase, but I&R staff as well as aging advocates are strongly advised to be prepared for scams that may occur. Social Security hopes to use the support of I&Rs across the nation to help consumers not to fall victim to scams.
To reduce the likelihood of scams, advocates and I&R staff are urged to focus on the following three facts: -
All Social Security and SSI beneficiaries who are eligible for the special one-time recovery payment will have their payment issued in May.
- The payment is automatic.
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There are no requests to make, no applications to complete, no emails to respond to and no fees to pay, and no help required to obtain the payment.
Social Security has an Office of the Inspector General (OIG) that will investigate allegations of fraud, including circumstances where scammers attempt to intercept a beneficiary's one-time economic recovery payment. Please inform your clients about this latest scam and tell them to report such activity to the Social Security OIG or by call the fraud hotline at 1-800-269-0271 between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. EST.
Please share this information throughout your network.
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