The check may have been safer in the mail.
So many direct-deposited Social Security checks are getting diverted to scammers’ bank accounts, Sen. Chuck Schumer wants the government to warn seniors anytime their payment method is changed.
Schumer says that if there’s a change to the account to which a Social Security check is deposited, the government should alert seniors by e-mail, text message or automated phone call.
“If any changes are made to their Social Security account, it needs to be verified,” Shumer demanded today. “We’re not asking for new computer code or anything expensive. Just one simple word: notification!”
All a scammer needs to divert a senior citizen’s Social Security check is their birth date, address and Social Security number.
Social Security’s inspector general gets about 50 complaints a day of fraud and unauthorized changes to bank accounts.
William Kurklen of Melville, N.Y., said he lost at least $1,680 after a scammer redirected his checks to a bank account in Delaware.
“This is a major problem. We don’t keep up and check everything,” said Kurlen, 77. “Some of my friends don’t check their accounts for a month. Just think of how much they could have lost!”