National Slam the Scam Day

Legitimate government agencies do not threaten immediate arrest, demand secrecy, or insist on payment by gift card, wire transfer, cryptocurrency, or cash.

Real officials typically contact people by mail first, give time to review information, and direct people to verified websites or phone numbers that can be independently checked.

If a caller refuses to let someone hang up and call back using an official number from an agency website or a recent statement, that is a strong sign of a government imposter scam.  

Scammers often claim to be from the Social Security Administration, the IRS, Medicare, or another agency and say there is a serious problem with a person’s account or benefits, or offer a benefit or prize.

They may say a Social Security number has been “suspended,” that benefits will stop, or that the person owes a fine.

The scammer typically pressures the person to act right away and to pay or provide personal information, often instructing them to use gift cards, wire transfers, prepaid debit cards, cryptocurrency, or sending cash by mail.  

Experts advise ending contact immediately by hanging up or deleting the message, then checking directly with the agency or company using contact details from an official website, letter, or statement.

People are urged not to click links, open attachments, or call back numbers included in the suspicious message.

If an issue needs to be reported, they can contact the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General for Social Security–related scams and use ReportFraud.ftc.gov to report most other scams to the Federal Trade Commission.  

Scammers favor gift cards, wire transfers, and cryptocurrency because these payment methods are fast, difficult to trace, and usually impossible to reverse.

Once money is sent in those forms, banks or card issuers generally cannot recover it, and law enforcement may have limited ability to track where it went.

Consumer protection agencies repeatedly stress that no legitimate government agency demands payment with gift cards, prepaid cards, cryptocurrency, or mailed cash.  

Data cited in the United States Senate and by federal agencies shows that older adults tend to report higher median losses in government imposter scams than younger adults, even though people of all ages are targeted.

A Senate fraud hotline has received thousands of complaints about these scams from every U.S. state and territory, indicating that the problem is widespread and not limited to any one region.  

Federal Trade Commission data cited in congressional records shows that consumers in the United States reported about 10 billion dollars in losses to fraud in 2023, which was the highest annual total recorded at that time.

Roughly one in four people who reported a fraud incident that year said they lost money, with a median loss of around 500 dollars, underscoring how common and costly scams have become.  

Authorities recommend acting quickly by contacting any affected financial institution, such as a bank or credit card company, to try to stop or limit losses and to place alerts or freezes on accounts if needed.

The person should also report the scam to the appropriate inspector general office if a government agency was impersonated, as well as to the Federal Trade Commission, and consider placing fraud alerts or credit freezes with credit bureaus if Social Security or other identity information was exposed.

Keeping records of what happened can help in any investigation or recovery efforts.