The Office of the Inspector General Issued a press release to report that a former Social Security employee has pled guilty to one count of wire fraud in his efforts to obtain unauthorized Social Security benefit payments which resulted in Social Security issuing more than $446,000 in improper payments. The California man, Martin Hernandez, 45, will be sentenced in U.S. District Court January 13, 2020. If convicted he faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The OIG’s press release reported that “according to court documents, Hernandez met Social Security benefit recipients through his employment at the Social Security Administration. Hernandez recruited certain recipients to receive fraudulent payments in addition to the benefits that they were entitled to receive. These recipients agreed to return a substantial amount of the money they received from the fraudulent payments back to Hernandez. Hernandez electronically initiated the payments from his workstation at the Social Security Administration offices where he worked. After Hernandez caused the beneficiaries to receive the fraudulent overpayments, he would instruct them to meet him in person to give him cash. During the course of the scheme, Hernandez caused the Social Security Administration to make unauthorized payments of over $446,000.”
Scams Still Alive
A San Antonio TV station is reporting of the continued efforts of scammers to get your personal information by sending fake automated calls. According to the story, the latest is an automated voice message indicating that a person’s Social Security benefits are about to be cancelled and to press 1 to talk to a live person. Of course, that live person is just a scammer that will provide you fake information and threaten that your benefits will be cancelled. Anyone receiving these types of calls should hang-up immediately and report the incident to the Office of the Inspector General.
