Your phone lights up with a name that sounds official: Social Security Administration (SSA), a tax authority, or “federal investigations.” The voice says your national insurance number will be suspended, a warrant is ready, or benefits will stop unless you pay now — with gift cards, crypto, a wire, or cash handed to a courier. Sometimes they “transfer” you to a second actor posing as police. The SSA and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have repeated the same core points for years: real agency staff do not threaten you by phone to extract payment or personal data, and they do not ask for gift cards or Bitcoin ATMs.
Spoofing makes the fear stick. The number on the screen can match a published helpline; that still does not prove who is speaking. Hang up. If you need to check a real account, dial the agency yourself from the number on an official website or a letter you already trust — not from a missed-call callback. Do not press keypad options on a robocall that claims to be government.
Payment method is the tell. Governments do not fix “problems” with iTunes cards, precious-metal deliveries, or QR codes at a crypto kiosk. If you already sent money or shared identity details, contact your bank and use identity-theft and fraud reporting routes for your country. Keep the number, the voicemail and any badge photos they texted — those images are often recycled props.
Start at Get help. For how caller ID can lie even when it looks local, see Caller ID can look local — number spoofing. Anyone selling a paid “clearance” after a government scare is often Fake recovery.
This article is for general information only. It is not legal or financial advice. Details change. If you have lost money, contact your bank or card issuer and use the routes on the help pages.