The Social Security Administration (SSA) has a helpful online service called My Social Security Account which allows you to set up a personal online account with the SSA that enables you to view your earnings history and estimates of benefits as well as manage your benefits online including changing your address or starting or changing direct electronic deposits of your check into a bank account you may designate.  This is a tremendously convenient service, but it also provides a great opportunity for scammers who have been setting up My Social Security Accounts on behalf of seniors who have not already set up such accounts for themselves.  The scammers then make changes to the victim’s account by directing their benefits checks to be sent to bank accounts controlled by the scammers.  Even though  the Social Security Administration requires verification of personal information by asking questions that only the Social Security recipient should know as part of the process for opening a My Social Security Account, too often this information is available to a determined identity thief who is thereby able to fraudulently open an account in the name of their intended victim.

TIPS

Just as the best defense against income tax identity theft is to file your income tax return before an identity thief attempts does so in your name, so the best defense against the fraudulent setting up of a My Social Security Account in your name is for you to set one up first and protect its safety with a strong username and password.  For further security you can even use dual factor authentication so that a special code would be sent to your smartphone each time you desire to access your My Social Security Account online.  For information about signing up for a My Social Security Account go to https://ssa.gov/myaccount/

You can also require that any changes to the bank account into which your check is electronically deposited only be done at a Social Security branch office and not on your online account.