A new type of hybrid scam called “long-con” fraud has been increasing over the past three
months. According to officials from the Office of the Inspector General at the Social Security
Administration (SSA), Social Security-related scams have increased 31.6% since last year.

“Long-con” scams involve a scammer gaining the trust and confidence of a target over time. Many
times, the target is contacted by one scammer by email or text message who “discovers” a
fabricated issue with the target’s Amazon or Paypal account, and sends the target to a fake SSA
agent. The fake SSA agent then discovers a larger fake issue, such as the target’s Social Security
number (SSN) being compromised. Usually, these scams culminate with an in-person meeting
between the target and someone involved in the scam. The target then gives the scammer cash,
gold, cryptocurrency, or another form of currency to hold for them while their SSN is
“compromised.”

These long-con scams tend to target older Americans, and the scammers have extensive
knowledge of their targets, making them seem credible when they are not. An Ohio woman was
recently scammed out of $500,000 in retirement savings by long-con scammers posing as
members of the SSA, as well as other supposed government officials.

“These ‘long-con’ scams are particularly vicious because they target individuals who are on fixed
incomes, and they come for everything,” said Joseph Peters, Jr., Secretary-Treasurer of the
Alliance. “We appreciate the hard work the SSA is doing to spread awareness of the issue.”