I guess this isn't all that new but today was the first I experienced. Got a phone call from automated system claiming to be Social Security. It was said that my Social Security number had been suspended due to suspicious activity and to press one to be connected to a Social Security rep to resolve. It is possible that Social Security may call you for something specific but it is VERY rare and a Social Security number can never be suspended.

LOL! The one I got was really badly done. They didn't even spoof the caller ID to show as Social Security Admin., it just showed Unknown on the caller ID.

This scam is after one or both of two things:
1) Get you to give out your Social Security number.
2) Convince you to pay a fine to reactivate your Social Security number.

Here is a link about it on Newsweek:
https://www.newsweek.com/social-security-number-suspended-scam-phone-calls-suspicious-activity-lawsuit-1366539

This link is to the Federal Trade Commission's info page on this:
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2018/09/your-social-security-number-isnt-suspended-ever

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As a followup note there is a third party system that will stop a lot, but not all, robo calls (automated solicitations). It is called Nomorobo and many phone carriers have it as an option. It is usually free for land line phones and VOIP such as phone service through your cable company but costs $1.99 per device for iPhone and Android smartphones. I looked and it was available through my Spectrum Voice phone system. I enabled it on Spectrum Voice. We shall see how well it works...

https://www.nomorobo.com/

The instructions they gave on the above site were not totally accurate for Spectrum Voice but it was easy to find the setting and enable.

Very simple control panel:

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Similar sort of scams over here, they usually tell you they are from the Inland Revenue or another is that they are going to cut your Internet off within the next 24 hours.
Trouble is it's a different number every time.

Over here BT (British Telecomm) have a system in place that you can put in place on your landline, it does need you to opt into their Caller Display service, but that is free, you can tell the system you don't want certain calls, I have blocked calls from International numbers. I also have a number that I can dial to add numbers to my black list, as I said though it's a different number each time so a lot of times I don't bother as it's probably a number that can't be traced.

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com