Social Security Scams Are a Growing Threat to Retirees

One Friday afternoon in February 2018, Ward Waltman came home to a voice mail that sounded suspicious. A woman claiming to be from the Social Security Administration left a message asking Waltman, a retired federal employee in Manakin Sabot, Va., to call her back. His first thought: "This sounds like a scam."

But over that weekend, Waltman started wondering if the call might be legitimate. He was then 68 years old and had not yet claimed his Social Security benefit. And he knew that his personal information had likely been stolen multiple times in recent data breaches involving insurance giant Anthem and credit bureau Equifax. What if a fraudster was using his personal details to claim his Social Security benefit?

It seemed like a stretch. After all, years earlier Waltman had followed the Social Security Administration's advice for sidestepping fraud. He set up his own "My Social Security" account, which allows users to estimate their retirement benefits and change their contact details, among other features.

So Waltman logged into his account,