Scammers are at it again, this time sending official-looking letters on fake U.S. Supreme Court letterhead. The Social Security Administration’s Inspector General wants you to know: these letters are completely fake.
The letter arrives addressed to you personally. It uses forged signatures of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The scammers claim you’re a suspect in criminal proceedings. They’ll drop names — real SSA officials, New Mexico’s Attorney General Raúl Torrez — to make it feel legitimate.
The letter says your Social Security number has been compromised. That the DEA (which they incorrectly call the “Drug Enforcement Agency”) is involved. That the Supreme Court has ordered your bank accounts frozen. That you can’t keep more than $10,000 in any bank or $80,000-$100,000 in investments.
Then comes the threat: cooperate with the Treasury Department or face “full liability” for losses when your Social Security number gets suspended.
It’s all designed to scare you into acting fast.
“Even though this scam looks more sophisticated, it follows the same playbook we’ve been seeing for years — impersonate authority, create fear, and rush the victim into compliance,” notes Melissa Caro, a certified financial planner with My Retirement Network. When scammers start using forged Supreme Court letterhead and real officials’ names, it tells you how much they’re investing in making these schemes believable.
People tend to assume they’d never fall for something like this. But when an official-looking document says you’re under investigation or tied to a criminal case, logic can go out the window. That’s exactly the point.
Marguerita Cheng, a certified financial planner with Blue Ocean Global Wealth shares a recent case: her husband — a federal employee, CPA, and auditor — had to go to the Social Security office in person this week after someone filed a fraudulent claim on his record. The fraudster also opened a bank account at Wells Fargo in his name. He only caught it because he received a notice from SSA about a request to update his bank account information.
If it can happen to a federal auditor, it can happen to anyone.
While younger generations have grown more skeptical of these schemes, older Americans remain the primary targets. Catherine Valega, a certified financial planner with Green Bee Advisory, points out that “it is the oldest generations that are susceptible.”