You gave a stranger your Social Security number. Now you want to know what to do next. Scammers call, email and text, and they can be very convincing. Plenty of careful people get caught. The useful move now is to work through a short list of reports and calls, starting today.
Start with a report to IdentityTheft.gov
Your first stop is IdentityTheft.gov. Consumer.gov tells people who think they gave a scammer their Social Security number to report it there and answer the questions. The site then gives advice on next steps. The sources do not say what the questions are or what advice you will get, so expect the site to guide you rather than assuming a particular checklist.
Guidance from consumer.gov says the quicker you act, the better. A prompt report also gives you a record of when you learned something was wrong. That record may help if trouble shows up later, though no report can promise it will stop misuse.
Before you start, jot down what you remember. Note the date and time, how the scammer reached you, the phone numbers or email addresses involved, and what they claimed. Write down what you shared and what you paid, if anything. Notes made now are far more accurate than memory a month from now.
Report the scammer to the FTC and the SSA Inspector General
Reporting your exposed number is one job. Reporting the person who tricked you is another. The Federal Trade Commission takes reports about scammers at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, or by phone at 1-877-382-4357.
Many scammers pose as government officials. If the contact claimed to be from the Social Security Administration or its Office of the Inspector General, you can also report it at oig.ssa.gov/report. That office takes reports of suspicious calls, letters, texts and emails that claim a problem with your Social Security number, account or payments.
Reporting to the OIG is voluntary. But the office notes that leaving out information may limit a complete investigation. So give what you can: what the caller demanded, how they wanted payment, and any callback numbers. The OIG also says reports may be shared with other federal and local agencies, and that information may be used for computer matching to verify SSA program eligibility.
A simple way to choose the route:
- IdentityTheft.gov for a Social Security number given to a scammer.
- The FTC to report the scammer.
- The SSA OIG when the contact claimed to be from SSA or the OIG.
If money or account access was involved
Some scammers want more than a number. They also ask for payment. If you sent money, contact the company you used. That might be a card company or bank, a money transfer company, a gift card company, a cryptocurrency company, or the post office. Say it was a scam and ask for the money back.
Money may not be recovered, but consumer.gov says it is worth asking. The sources say nothing about the odds, and they do not explain recovery beyond making the request. Ask which company you used, and whether it can cancel or reverse the transaction.
If you handed over cash or gold, call the police. The sources give no other guidance on state or local reporting, so ask the officer what report they can take.
If you gave a scammer a username and password, log into that account right away and create a new password. Then change it on every other account where you used the same one. Think back honestly. Did you use that password anywhere else? One reused password can open more than one door.
What these sources do not cover
The sources used here cover first steps. They do not describe what to do with the credit bureaus, such as fraud alerts, credit freezes or monitoring. For that, look to official consumer resources and the credit bureaus themselves.
The IRS publishes an identity theft guide for individuals. The excerpt available for this article was mostly navigation, so tax-related follow-up is not covered here. If you worry about tax filings under your number, read that guide directly.
This article is for education. It is not legal, financial or tax advice. Reporting and changing passwords can reduce your exposure, but nothing here guarantees that money will come back or that your number will never be misused.
