2020 was the year of new twists on scams. There were COVID-19 testing scams, miracle cure scams, stimulus scams and vaccine scams, but one scam stood out above them all. The Social Security impostor scam.

Social Security impostor scams continue to be the most prevalent in the United States.

In 2020, the Social Security Office of Inspector General received well over 700,000 reports of Social Security impostor scams and 70 percent of the calls to the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline were related to Social Security impostors.

Remember, the real Social Security Administration will not call you unless you are already in discussions with the agency on a particular issue. They certainly won’t threaten to cut off your benefits or seek to “help” with an identity theft problem. Anyone who does is not from the Social Security Administration.

Be a fraud fighter! If you can spot a scam, you can stop a scam.

Visit the AARP Fraud Watch Network at www.aarp.org/fraudwatchnetwork or call the AARP Fraud Watch Helpline at 1-877-908-3360.