Aug 4, 2013
My husband got a call this morning (Saturday) and a woman identified herself as someone from the Social Security Office. She said she was required by law to notify him that his benefits my be reduced because I applied for Social Security. He was caught off guard and he said the woman didn't ask him for any information, but he thought no one from SS would be calling on a Saturday since the sequester is in place. He tried to call the number back and got a "non-working number" message. Thinking this was a phishing call with no way to verify it with Social Security, we spent half the day putting security alerts on our banks and our credit. Now it appears this was a legitimate call, but the only thing that would affect my husband's SS is if I died so calling him with that info was silly. I am calling Social Security on Monday and if this call was legit, they are going to get a piece of my mind. They need a better system. With all the scams out there they have to know that this kind of call is only going to scare people. Had the incoming call indicated Social Security and been a legitimate 1-800 number that you could return the call, it would not cause panic. Now I have to go through extra security to access our bank accounts - and I still don't know why they would tell my husband his payment is going to be reduced - I was the Benefit's Officer for 15 years at the agency we retired from and that simply is not true. If I die it will affect his payment - but in a good way. Thanks Social Security - if you read this, please fix this process and stop scaring people.