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Social Security benefits are a favorite target of identity thieves. Today’s thieves are more sophisticated than their predecessors who would take to the streets and pull Social Security checks out of mailboxes. Thieves today employ a variety of techniques using email, fake websites, and phone calls. Scams will intensify as baby boomers age, and the large millennial cohort right behind baby boomers makes a continuation of these scams likely. You are a potential victim whether or not you are already receiving benefits.
Once the thieves get your Social Security number and other personal information, if you are not already receiving benefits but are eligible, they file a claim for benefits on your behalf. They will have the benefits deposited in their bank account. If you are already receiving benefits, thieves try to redirect the benefits to a bank account they control.
The Social Security Administration does not release information about identity theft and related incidents involving benefits. But a 2015 inspector general report sampled data from 2013. It found that about $20 million in benefits for 12,200 recipients were misdirected to the wrong bank accounts. The IG also found that the agency was able to prevent an additional $6 million belonging to 5,300 recipients from being misdirected.
Do not rely on others. Take steps to protect your Social Security benefits even if you don’t already receive them. Once you hit 62, the benefits will be attractive to thieves. They can file a claim for benefits while you take care of your business and let deferred retirement credits increase the benefits you plan to claim later. You need to take preventative action, even if you don’t plan to apply for benefits for years.
The best way to protect your benefits is to create a MySocialSecurity account on the Social Security website at www.socialsecurity.gov. The account has a number of features, such as a calculator to estimate the benefits you would receive under different claim scenarios and checking the accuracy of your income history. You can also apply for benefits online when you are ready and take further action.
Another benefit of the account, and a way to prevent identity theft, is that it allows you to verify any activity related to your social security number. If someone is applying for benefits on your behalf or trying to change your address or the bank account where your benefits are deposited, you will see it in the account as a pending transaction. Once you’ve set up the account, check it periodically to see if there’s been any activity. Contact Social Security if you see a transaction that you did not initiate.
An alternative is to periodically call the Social Security toll-free number to ask if there has been activity on your account. You can also ask what your latest estimated benefits are.
When you receive benefits, check each month that your benefits are deposited in your bank account in a timely manner. When a deposit is not made on time, contact Social Security. This could be the first sign that someone got your information and used it to divert profits to their bank account.
Social Security is good at restoring benefits once you’ve alerted them to the theft and convinced them that you’re the real beneficiary and haven’t authorized the change. But the sooner you act and the more steps you take to prevent the theft or catch it early, the easier it will be to fix the problem and restore your benefits.
