What to Do If You Gave Your Social Security Number to a Scammer

If a scammer has your Social Security number (SSN), the next 24 hours matter. They will try to open credit accounts in your name, file a fake tax return, claim your benefits, or sell your identity on the dark web. This emergency guide walks you, your spouse, or your adult children through the exact steps to take — fast, in order, and free. Every action below is free; none requires a lawyer.

Urgent — do this first. Place a free credit freeze with all three credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion). That single step blocks the most common damage paths in under an hour. Once it’s done, go to Step 2 for the IRS PIN. If you’d rather talk to a person first, the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833-FRAUD-11 will walk you through it.

Step 1 — Freeze your credit with all three bureaus

A credit freeze stops anyone from opening a new account, loan, or credit card in your name. It is free, takes about 15 minutes per bureau, and you can unfreeze any time.

  • Equifax — 1-800-685-1111 or equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services
  • Experian — 1-888-397-3742 or experian.com/freeze
  • TransUnion — 1-888-909-8872 or transunion.com/credit-freeze

Have your name, address, date of birth, and SSN ready. Each bureau will give you a PIN — write it down. You can also freeze the credit of minor children for whom you have legal authority (guardianship).

Step 2 — Get an IRS Identity Protection PIN

The IRS issues a free six-digit PIN that prevents anyone from filing a tax return using your SSN. The fastest path is through your IRS Online Account at irs.gov/ipin. If you cannot use the online tool, you can file Form 15227 if you meet the income threshold, or schedule a visit to an IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center. As a last-resort fallback, the IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit can be reached at 1-800-908-4490. The PIN changes each year — keep an eye on the mail for next year’s number.

Step 3 — Report to the Social Security Administration

First (do this regardless of what kind of scam happened): create or sign in to your personal my Social Security account at ssa.gov/myaccount. This prevents anyone else from creating one in your name using your SSN. If you already have an account, sign in and review activity.

Second — only if the scammer specifically claimed to be from the SSA, or you suspect benefit theft: report the fraud to the SSA Office of the Inspector General at 1-800-269-0271 or oig.ssa.gov/report. Also place a Block on Electronic Access to your SSN by calling SSA directly at 1-800-772-1213. (The OIG investigates fraud; the actual block is placed by SSA proper — these are two separate calls.) Once placed, any changes to your record require in-person identity verification.

Step 4 — File reports with the FTC and FBI

  • FTC IdentityTheft.gov — generates a free personalized recovery plan
  • FBI IC3 at ic3.gov — for online-based fraud
  • Your state Attorney General’s consumer-protection office — for state-level scam reporting
  • If a fraudulent tax return has been filed in your name, file IRS Form 14039 (Identity Theft Affidavit) at irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f14039.pdf.

Step 5 — Monitor your accounts for 90 days

Check every bank, credit card, brokerage, and Medicare statement weekly for the next 90 days, and at least monthly for the year after that. Look for: small “test” charges you don’t recognize, new accounts you didn’t open, address changes, or changes to your Medicare benefits. Keep your credit freeze in place until you actually need new credit — freezes do not expire. If you see anything strange, call the institution’s fraud line immediately; recovery rights differ by product, channel, and timing, and early reports give you the strongest chance of reversal.

Why scammers want your SSN

Your SSN is the master key to your financial identity. With it, a scammer can open credit cards, take out loans, file a fake tax return to capture your refund, redirect Social Security deposits, or resell your identity on the dark web. Per dark-web monitoring (Privacy Affairs, Trustwave, 2025), an SSN alone typically sells for $1–$6; a full identity package (SSN + date of birth + address + financial data) sells for roughly $15–$40. Identity-recovery cases typically take 6–12 months for straightforward situations. Complex cases — multiple compromised accounts, tax-related fraud, or stolen Social Security benefits — often take 12–24 months or longer (the IRS reports an average of 22 months for victims in its Identity Theft Victim Assistance program).

How to prevent this happening again

  • Never give your SSN to anyone who called you. Real federal agencies do not unexpectedly call to request it. If a real agency has an active case with you, they will tell you ahead of time by mail.
  • The IRS, SSA, and FBI will never call to demand your SSN under threat of arrest.
  • If a real company needs your SSN, hang up, find their number on their official website yourself, and call back.
  • Shred mail with your SSN. Keep your card in a safe at home — not in your wallet.

When to call for help

National Elder Fraud Hotline: 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311). Free, confidential, DOJ-staffed. Open Monday–Friday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Eastern Time. English, Spanish, and other languages available. They will help you identify what type of fraud occurred, document the incident, and connect you to the right reporting agencies.

Two rules that prevent most scams

Rule 1. If they called you, emailed you, or messaged you — hang up. Call back at a number you find yourself.

Rule 2. Never pay anyone because of an unexpected call, text, pop-up, or message — especially by gift card, wire transfer, cryptocurrency, payment app, or courier. The red flag is the unexpected pressure, not the payment method by itself.