C RY D E R
P O I N T
AUGUST
FRAUD ADVISORY:
Inspector General
Warns Public About SSA
Employee Impersonation
Scheme
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
JULY 19, 2017
The Acting Inspector General of Social
Security, Gale Stallworth Stone, is warning
citizens about a new Social Security
Administration (SSA) employee impersonation
14 CRYDER POINT COURIER | AUGUST 2017 | WWW.QNS.COM
scheme. SSA and its Office of
the Inspector General (OIG) have recently
alerted citizens about an OIG employee
impersonation scheme and a scheme
targeting former clients of Kentucky disability
attorney Eric Conn; the agencies
are now receiving reports from citizens
across the country about other phone
calls from an individual posing as an SSA
employee. The caller attempts to acquire
personally identifiable information from
victims to then edit the victims’ direct
deposit, address, and telephone information
with SSA.
The reports indicate that the impersonator
calls from a telephone number with
a 323 area code. The caller claims to be
an SSA employee, and in some instances,
Terrific Vegetable Pizza
tells the victim that they are due
a 1.7 percent cost-of-living adjustment
(COLA) increase of their Social Security
benefits. The impersonator goes on to
ask the victim to verify all of their personal
information including their name,
date of birth, Social Security number
(SSN), parents’ names, etc. to receive the
increase. If the impersonator is successful
in acquiring this information, they
use it to contact SSA and request changes
to the victim’s direct deposit, address,
and telephone information.
SSA employees occasionally contact
citizens by telephone for customer-service
purposes. In only a few limited special
situations, usually already known to
the citizen, an SSA employee may request
the citizen confirm personal information
over the phone. If a person receives
a suspicious call from someone alleging
to be from SSA, citizens may report
that information to the OIG at 1-800-
269-0271 or online via https://oig.ssa.
gov/report.
Acting Inspector General Stone continues
to warn citizens to be cautious,
and to avoid providing information such
as your SSN or bank account numbers
to unknown persons over the phone or
internet unless you are certain of who
is receiving it. “You must be very confident
that the source is the correct business
party, and your information will be
secure after you release it,” Stone said.
If a person has questions about any
communication—email, letter, text or
phone call—that claims to be from
SSA or the OIG, please contact your
local Social Security office, or call
Social Security’s toll-free customer service
number at 1-800-772-1213, 7 a.m.
to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, to
verify its legitimacy. (Those who are
deaf or hard-of-hearing can call Social
Security’s TTY number at 1-800-325-
0778.)
For more information, please contact
Andrew Cannarsa, OIG’s Communications
Director, at (410) 965-2671.
14 The Dining Diva:
Cascarino’s
BY HELENE OELERICH
I love pizza – and Cascarino’s prepares the
most delicious pizza, made in a wood-burning
brick oven, with amazing marinara sauce. It’s
a casual spot with exceptionally delicious food,
right up the block here in Whitestone.
But Cascarino’s offers a lot more than just
pizza: there are house and Caesar salads,
penne ala vodka and seafood, not to mention
soups, pastas, hamburgers, Buffalo wings and
several daily specials. Everything is fresh, and
the owner, Vincent Coady, is very helpful to
his customers.
Cascarino’s is located in the shopping center
on 10th Avenue and Powells Cove Blvd., a couple
of doors from where the new North Shore
Farms Supermarket will be opening (replacing
the old Waldbaum’s).
You can call for pickup or delivery (718-
746-4370) and you can also order online at
cascarinos.com. It’s open Monday through
Thursday from 11am – 10pm; Friday and
Saturday from 11am – 10:45pm; and Sunday
from 11am – 9:45pm.
Enjoy!
Best sauce ever!
Phil enjoying!
Sicilian Marinara & Pepperoni Pizzas
– Yum! Martin, Cascarino’s great pizza maker
ATTENTION CRYDER POINT RESIDENTS:
For Your Information - Social Security Scam Alert
The following is a reprint of an advisory currently posted on the Social
Security Administration’s website warning of an employee impersonation
scheme. Included are instructions about what to do if you are contacted
by someone posing as an SSA employee.
~ Jill Davis
