Mdthbs

It is not a plot to rack up toll fees but to get you to pay them money to get the alleged legal proceeding halted. I too have received numerous such phone calls (most with faked Caller IDs with Area Code 202 (the area code for Washington DC)) and been told that an arrest warrant has been issued by the Federal Court in Santa Clara CA (sometimes Santa Barbara CA) and that the local police are on their way to my home to execute the warrant and pick me up. I can make all this go away by sending a money order or giving the caller a credit card number to which they can charge the amount due etc.

There is no such thing as the Department of Social Security in the Federal Government; it is the Social Security Administration and it never calls you to tell you about legal proceedings or anything else. It is all done by mail. So yes, this call is spam. Just ignore it.

The Social Security Administration mails documents; they don't call.

Of course you're being conned. Notifications of legal proceedings never come by phone. Never. All such calls are guaranteed to be scams.

Oh, and there is no "Department of Social Security" in the United States.

I work as a contractor at the Social Security Administration(ssa.gov), and am working on documenting an app we have (eMailer) that allows employees to send you email or texts with pre-approved content that does not involve your PII (Personally Identifiable Information) such as your SSN.

Important information may come via email, not just postal mail, but only if you either request some one-time information (as above, and it will appear to originate from ThankYou@SSA.gov) OR you have a "My Social Security" online account (more info here: https://faq.ssa.gov/en-US/Topic/?id=CAT-01154 )

Here's how you can report fraud, such as people pretending to be from the SSA: https://faq.ssa.gov/en-us/Topic/article/KA-10018

If you receive a suspicious call or are unsure of the identity of someone alleging to be from SSA, you should report details of the call to the Office of the Inspector General at ‎1-800-269-0271 or online at https://oig.ssa.gov/report.

edited to correct the "A" in SSA

This is a scam and you can just ignore it. But, in general, whenever someone claiming to be a bank, government agency, or such asks you to contact them back, do not use contact information from them. Look up the actual contact information of the institution from an official source and contact them that way. Or go to your local branch in person. Be sure you are not talking to an impersonator.

If it’s really them, their operator will be able to put you through to the right person. If not, they’ll appreciate your reporting the scam.

Be careful: some scammers try to install malware on your computer first that redirects any connection or search you make for XYZ bank to their own site. In at least one case (which wouldn’t be possible on most modern phones), someone told me the story of how he got taken in by calling the bank right after the scammer hung up. The bank confirmed everything—only, he later found out, the scammers had never actually hung up the phone. They just muted their end until they heard him dial the bank's number, and played him a recording of the phone ringing.