You get a text message that says your Social Security cost-of-living increase is ready, but you need to confirm your Medicare number to activate it. The message uses your name. It has a government seal. It links to a page that looks exactly like ssa.gov.
None of it is real.
The government imposter scams targeting people on Medicare and Social Security have gotten sharper, more personalized, and far more expensive. Government impersonation complaints to the FTC rose 25% in 2025 to more than 330,000, with SSA remaining the most impersonated federal agency. Reported fraud losses among adults 60 and older have quadrupled since 2020, reaching $2.4 billion in 2024. The FTC estimates the true figure, after accounting for the majority of cases that go unreported, is somewhere between $10 billion and $81 billion.
The scams driving those numbers are not random or unsophisticated. They are engineered around things you actually have: Medicare coverage, a Social Security number, and enough trust in government institutions to take a call seriously. Here is exactly how the three biggest ones work right now.
Table of contents
The Medicare card phishing call
The script usually runs like this: a caller tells you that Medicare is issuing updated cards with new security features, and that you need to verify your identity before yours can be mailed. Sometimes the lie goes the other direction, and the caller says your current card has been compromised and a replacement is being processed. Either way, they need your Medicare Beneficiary Identifier, your date of birth, and often your Social Security number, just to confirm your file.
There are no plans to issue new Medicare cards to all members in 2026. You will only receive a new one if someone committed medical fraud in your name, or you requested a replacement yourself. Medicare does not call you to verify your identity before mailing anything. If a scammer gets your Medicare number, they can bill the program for bogus surgeries, prescriptions, and medical equipment in your name, which drains the system and can corrupt your medical records in ways that affect your actual care later. You may not find out for months, until an Explanation of Benefits arrives showing procedures you never had.
Caller ID is not reliable. Scammers can spoof the number that appears on your screen so that an incoming call looks like it is from a government agency or a health provider you already know. Seeing “1-800-MEDICARE” on your phone does not mean Medicare is calling. Hang up and dial that number yourself if you want to follow up.
The fake COLA activation message
Every year, when Social Security announces its annual cost-of-living adjustment, scammers build campaigns around it within days. The 2026 COLA was no different. The messages arrive as texts with links to fake SSA websites asking you to log in and confirm your account to receive the increase. Some come as official-looking letters on what appears to be Social Security letterhead, with a toll-free number to call. These letters are designed to mimic real SSA letterhead, but the COLA is automatic for all beneficiaries and does not require activation of any kind.
What makes this version of the scam harder to dismiss is how much some callers already know. They may have your name, your doctor's name, and the medications you take. That precision is typically fueled by data stolen in large healthcare breaches, including the Change Healthcare cyberattack that exposed millions of records. Criminals buy that data and use it to sound credible. When someone recites your medical history, it is natural to assume they are a legitimate official. That assumption is what they are counting on.
The SSA's Office of Inspector General has warned explicitly that criminals are sending deceptive texts and emails directing people to fake Social Security websites to harvest personal and financial information. The real SSA does not text you a link. To check your COLA notice, go directly to ssa.gov/myaccount by typing that address yourself, not by following a link from a message you were not expecting.
The Social Security impersonation call
This one produces the highest losses per victim. It works because it combines fear with urgency in a way that is extremely difficult to think through calmly.
The call opens with a recorded message, or a live agent, saying your Social Security number has been linked to criminal activity. Drug trafficking is a common claim. Money laundering comes up. The caller says your number has been suspended or that there is a warrant for your arrest, and offers a way out: cooperate immediately, provide information, or make a payment to resolve the matter before law enforcement arrives.
Social Security numbers cannot be suspended. The real SSA will never threaten legal action if you don't pay, say it needs money to activate a benefit, pressure you to share sensitive information, contact you through social media, or demand you keep the conversation secret. None of those things happen in legitimate government communications.
The financial damage from this scam has grown dramatically. In 2024, the FTC received 8,269 reports from adults 60 and older who said they lost at least $10,000 to an imposter scam, a figure up 362% from 2020. Total reported losses hit $700 million that year, a more than fivefold increase from four years earlier.
Some victims emptied retirement accounts. Some lost their homes. The scam's effectiveness is not about technical sophistication. It is about fear, and fear interrupts the mental process that checks facts before acting.
Scammers follow a consistent pattern: they pretend to be from SSA, invent a problem or prize, pressure you to act immediately, and then specify how to pay. Knowing that pattern in advance is what stops it cold.
What to do if any of this happens to you
Stop the contact. Hang up, close the message, do not click any link. If you gave information before you realized what was happening, stop all communication with the scammer and report it immediately. You can file a report at oig.ssa.gov, or call the SSA fraud hotline at 1-800-269-0271. For Medicare concerns, call 1-800-MEDICARE. For identity theft, use the FTC's tool at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
A few things worth knowing cold, so you don't have to reason under pressure. SSA will never ask you to pay with gift cards, wire transfers, or cryptocurrency. Medicare will never call to issue you a new card.
Your Social Security number cannot be suspended. Any contact that opens with urgency and ends with a payment request is a scam, regardless of what the caller ID shows, what name is used, or how much the caller already seems to know about you.
The government communicates by mail and moves slowly. Anyone rushing you is not from the government.
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