Social Security Watchdog Warns: The 2027 COLA Is Automatic With No Application, and Anyone Charging to 'Activate' It Is an Impostor
The Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA OIG) issued a government-impostor scam alert on October 21: the 3.6 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2027, announced by SSA on October 14 for 76 million Americans, is automatic, and beneficiaries do not need to register, apply, or otherwise activate the increase.
The OIG said scammers use the COLA announcement to contact people by phone, text, email, social media or mail, pretending to be from Social Security or another government agency and claiming they can increase payments or activate the COLA. They may tell beneficiaries to pay a fee, change their direct deposit, or share personal and financial information, and some send links to look-alike websites, use the names and titles of real government employees, send fake documents, or recite personal details to seem legitimate.
The defense is simple: stop and treat any such contact as a scam until verified, reach the agency through official channels yourself, and open a my Social Security account to prevent misuse and manage benefits. Suspected Social Security scams can be reported to the SSA OIG Fraud Hotline at 1-800-269-0271, Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern Time. (Source: Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Social Security Administration)
Source: 美国社会安全局监察长办公室
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图片来源：Wikimedia Commons「Corning NY social security office building」（J. Passepartout 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0），图中为一处社会安全局办公楼 Image: Wikimedia Commons "Corning NY social security office building" (by J. Passepartout, CC BY-SA 4.0)
