Jacksonville, FL — A new scam has surfaced in Northeast Florida, with the culprits targeting victims in several states.
The Better Business Bureau of Northeast Florida and The Southeast Atlantic says scammers are calling people to say their Social Security number has been blocked because of fraud and misuse. In order to regain access, the message says you have to call back to a number they claim to be the Social Security Administration.
Local BBB President Tom Stephens says the scammers will either threaten you with arrest or legal action, or say you have to send money cards in order to unlock your account, but it’s all a lie, because you can’t be stripped of a social security number like that.
“There’s no way you can abuse it and lose it,” he says.
He says this is a new twist on a scam, which there are already three reports of in Northeast Florida alone.
“This is the first time we’ve heard of this too. We’ve had no reports about this until the last three or four days,” Stephens says.
In the last few days, he says there have been reports from nine states overall, which Stephens says is unique, because often scammers will target a specific area.
Bottom line, he says you should not answer these calls or call back. Instead, he encourages you to report scams like this to the BBB, so they can let the public know about any new trends and follow up with law enforcement as warranted.
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