Social Security and COLA Scams: How to Protect Your Benefits

A call, letter, or email says there is a problem with your Social Security: your number has been suspended, your benefits are at risk, or you must “activate” your annual cost-of-living increase. It sounds official and a little frightening, which is exactly how it is meant to feel.

Social Security is a lifeline, so any threat to it grabs your attention. Scammers count on that. This guide explains how Social Security and COLA scams work, shows a real example, and gives you simple ways to protect your benefits and your number.

What it is

A Social Security scam is when a criminal pretends to be the Social Security Administration (SSA) to frighten you into paying money or sharing personal details like your Social Security number. The cost-of-living, or COLA, version is a newer twist that uses the yearly benefit increase as the hook.

The key fact that defuses these scams: real COLA increases are automatic. They require no phone call, no fee, and no “activation” of any kind. If someone says you must take action to get your increase, it is a scam.

How it works

1. A call, recorded message, letter, or email claims to be from Social Security.
2. It raises alarm: your number was used in a crime, your benefits are suspended, or you must act to receive your COLA.
3. They ask you to confirm your Social Security number or to pay to “reactivate” or “protect” your benefits.
4. They may demand payment by gift card, wire, or transfer to a “safe” account, and they often spoof the real SSA phone number.

In July 2025, the SSA Office of the Inspector General documented letters made to look like official SSA mail, telling people to call a toll-free number to “activate” their COLA. There is no such step, and the number led to scammers.

A real example

Joan, 73, gets a letter on official-looking letterhead saying she must call to activate her 2026 cost-of-living adjustment or her payments could be delayed. Worried about her check, she calls. The “representative” confirms her name and asks her to “verify” her Social Security number and bank account to process the increase. Joan gives them, relieved to have it handled. There was no activation needed, and now a stranger has the keys to her identity and her benefits. The real COLA would have arrived automatically.

By the numbers

• People reported losing $3.5 billion to imposter scams in 2025, more than any other category, with government impersonators a leading driver (FTC).
• Reports from older adults who lost $10,000 or more to imposter scams rose 362 percent from 2020 to 2024 (FTC).
• Real Social Security COLA increases are automatic and require no action, fee, or “activation” (SSA OIG).

Red flags to watch for

• A claim that your Social Security number is “suspended” (numbers are not suspended).
• A demand to pay to keep or “reactivate” your benefits.
• A request to confirm your Social Security number or bank details.
• A message saying you must call or act to receive your COLA increase.
• Threats of arrest, or pressure to move your money to a “safe” account.

How to protect yourself

1. Hang up or set the letter aside. Real SSA business is not urgent in this way.
2. Contact Social Security yourself at 1-800-772-1213 or SSA.gov, never a number from the message.
3. Never confirm your Social Security number to someone who contacted you.
4. Remember that COLA increases are automatic, so any “activation” request is a scam.
5. Make yourself harder to target. Scammers buy senior contact lists from data-broker and people-search sites. Removing your information from those sites, which a privacy or data-removal service can do for you, reduces these calls and letters.
6. Loop in family. Agree to check with each other before sharing an SSN or paying anyone who calls about benefits.

If you’ve already responded

Place a free fraud alert or credit freeze with the three credit bureaus, and make a recovery plan at IdentityTheft.gov. Report it to the SSA OIG at oig.ssa.gov and to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. If you paid, contact your bank or card company right away.

In the news

• FTC data spotlight: False alarm, real scam
• Imposter scams cost older adults hundreds of millions; some clearing out 401(k)s (CNBC)

Sources

• SSA Office of the Inspector General: Scam Awareness
• FTC: How To Avoid a Government Impersonation Scam
• SSA: Protect Yourself from Scams
• FBI IC3: Elder Fraud