There has been a recent uptick in scammers pretending to be government employees. These calls, texts or emails typically present a problem with your Social Security Number (SSN) or account and ask you to pay a fine or debt with nontraditional forms of payment such as gift cards, wire transfers or internet currency. They can also request mailing cash to take care of the fine. The scam can escalate quickly if you ask questions or refuse the statements, leading to threats of arrest or other legal action.

While the Social Security office may contact you for certain situations, federal employees will never threaten you, suspend your SSN or demand immediate payment.

Furthermore, they would never request nontraditional payments, such as gift cards, prepaid debit cards or wire transfers.

If you receive a suspicious call that requests personal financial information:

1. Hang up.
2. Do not share personal information or give access to money.
3. Report the scam to oig.ssa.gov.

Learn more at oig.ssa.gov/scam.