A Special Message From Social Security

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VictoriaF
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A Special Message From Social Security

Post by VictoriaF »

I have just received an email with Subject "A Special Message From Social Security." The message suggests to log in to my Social Security account to get tax related information. It seems legitimate. HOWEVER, the message contains links to the sign in, which could be used for phishing. If the message is phishing, it's dangerous; if the message is legitimate, it's irresponsible.

Victoria

EDIT: Added "NOT" to emphasize that it's phishing. DO NOT CLICK!

EDIT-2: After catching up with this thread, I now think that the message is sent by a contractor on behalf of the SSA. Even if this particular message is not dangerous, the use of clickable links within the message and not sending it from a GOV account is inexcusable.
Last edited by VictoriaF on Wed Feb 18, 2015 8:21 am, edited 3 times in total.
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MSchleicher
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by MSchleicher »

Did you try logging into your mySocialSecurity account via their website to see if the message was legitimate?
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

There is no "special message" - it's a phishing expedition. If the SSA wanted to contact you, it's preferred message will be by hand-delivered snail-mail. To be extra cautious, I suggest you visit the SSA.gov website and see if there is any general broadcast message indicating a special message has been distributed at-large. Otherwise, call them up on the phone directly. Do not accept phone calls to your home purporting to be representative of any "real" US government entity.
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by The Wizard »

When I get those questionable emails, I sometimes toy with them for amusement, entering false credentials to see what happens.
Sometimes...
Attempted new signature...
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VictoriaF
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by VictoriaF »

MSchleicher wrote:Did you try logging into your mySocialSecurity account via their website to see if the message was legitimate?
I did log in to my Social Security account, but as I don't receive Social Security or Medicare the email message does not apply to me. The message refers to the "Replacement Documents" tab. I don't see this tab when I log in to my account.

Victoria
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by hicabob »

same email here this am. I expect it's sent to everyone that has signed up for the online SS records access.
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by camptalcott »

I got the same email.

I deleted it. I have my original ss card and just got a recent benefit sheet so I took it as spam.
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MSchleicher
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by MSchleicher »

Here is an internet phishing alert from SSA. http://www.ssa.gov/myaccount/internetphishingalert.html

If you receive phishing emails for the SSA, the SSA requests that you do the following:
If you receive phishing E-mails, please forward them to the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team at phishing-report@us-cert.gov. (http://www.us-cert.gov/nav/report_phishing.html).
The Wizard wrote:When I get those questionable emails, I sometimes toy with them for amusement, entering false credentials to see what happens.
Sometimes...
I would avoid clicking links from unknown senders as, aside from the phishing attempt, the website content may be malicious,
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by pshonore »

Its absolutely not a scam or phishing. It allows online access where you can print certain documents online rather than having to go to the local office or wait for snail mail. I think its good to see SSA getting a little more modern
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

MSchleicher wrote:Here is an internet phishing alert from SSA. http://www.ssa.gov/myaccount/internetphishingalert.html

If you receive phishing emails for the SSA, the SSA requests that you do the following:
If you receive phishing E-mails, please forward them to the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team at phishing-report@us-cert.gov. (http://www.us-cert.gov/nav/report_phishing.html).
The Wizard wrote:When I get those questionable emails, I sometimes toy with them for amusement, entering false credentials to see what happens.
Sometimes...
I would avoid clicking links from unknown senders as, aside from the phishing attempt, the website content may be malicious,
Last time I toyed with one of these, they actually wound up stealing my credit card number and toying with me for real - but the credit card company shut the account down instantaneously, so no harm done except to the merchant who got taken for $25. :annoyed
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

pshonore wrote:Its absolutely not a scam or phishing. It allows online access where you can print certain documents online rather than having to go to the local office or wait for snail mail. I think its good to see SSA getting a little more modern
Do you work for SSA or did you receive written mail to your home indicating they are getting on with the "times"?
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by pshonore »

Grt2bOutdoors wrote:
pshonore wrote:Its absolutely not a scam or phishing. It allows online access where you can print certain documents online rather than having to go to the local office or wait for snail mail. I think its good to see SSA getting a little more modern
Do you work for SSA or did you receive written mail to your home indicating they are getting on with the "times"?
Neither, but since I did go to the site in the email , login and print my earnings record, I'm pretty sure its genuine. If not, then it appears they've hacked the entire SSA website.
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by tbradnc »

Run your mouse cursor over the link and have a look at the domain it's pointed to.
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by heartwood »

I got it too, but Chrome automatically sent it to spam.

Coincidentally I had visited the site a week ago to get a duplicate 2014 earnings tax form. It worked then. I wass able to find it and print it a minute or so.
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by wilpat »

I logged into my account and under "replacement Documents" is a copy of my 2014 year end statement. There is also a form 703 available there, which is to determine whether or not you must file your SSI distribution.

I also already received a hard copy in the mail.
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by VictoriaF »

pshonore wrote:Its absolutely not a scam or phishing. It allows online access where you can print certain documents online rather than having to go to the local office or wait for snail mail. I think its good to see SSA getting a little more modern
Did you click on the link in the email message or logged in separately?

Victoria
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by MSchleicher »

Victoria,

Regardless of whether or not SSA is sending out legitimate emails regarding the same content the email claims to be sending you. It is a good practice to avoid clicking any link that you are sent in your email. For years, scammers have been creating phishing emails that replicate legitimate content.
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by ubermax »

pshonore wrote:Its absolutely not a scam or phishing. It allows online access where you can print certain documents online rather than having to go to the local office or wait for snail mail. I think its good to see SSA getting a little more modern
+1 - got the same email and it looks legit to me for the reasons Pshonore mentioned , however the email that VicF got sounds different and could be phishing - I wouldn't click any link in the email but would instead go to the SSA website .
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by midareff »

VictoriaF wrote:
pshonore wrote:Its absolutely not a scam or phishing. It allows online access where you can print certain documents online rather than having to go to the local office or wait for snail mail. I think its good to see SSA getting a little more modern
Did you click on the link in the email message or logged in separately?

Victoria

As a matter of principle I never use the links in email. If I need a statement or something from an email I go directly to the site and let LastPass do it's thing.

I received that email too. Already have everything I need so in the trash it went.
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by AddingUp »

I received the email this morning, too, and I sent it to my spam folder (unopened!). I figure if was a real message, I can access it via the SS site, which I plan to do later today. Thanks for the reminder!
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by VictoriaF »

.....
Last edited by VictoriaF on Wed Feb 18, 2015 7:03 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by nisiprius »

Thanks, Victoria. I got a similar email this morning. I thought it was legit, but didn't do anything because I didn't need any "replacement documents." However, on hovering over the link I think it looks suspicious as hell. The message contains the explicit (and legitimate) link url text,

"You just need to go to http://www.socialsecurity.gov/signin and log in..."

but the actual URL it links to is a very very long one whose real domain is "links.govdelivery.com" Yeah, right... a .com URL for a supposedly government service. It includes the real address of the real website, http://www.socialsecurity.gov/signin as PART OF THE QUERY STRING.

This looks like it is probably planting cookies or doing other evil things but actually taking you finally to the right URL so that you are unaware of the deception. It does whatever it wanted to do, then it since it is taking you to the real site, you can "login and print my earnings record," making people think "I'm pretty sure its genuine."

pshonore says "If not, then it appears they've hacked the entire SSA website." Not at all. They haven't hacked the SSA website at all, it's the real website. The question is what they did BEFORE they sent you there.

I would not touch this one with a ten-foot pole. I can think of no legitimate reason for it not to link directly to http://www.socialsecurity.gov/signin .

I do have a "my Social Security" account but if I thought I needed to check it I would go directly to http://www.socialsecurity.gov/signin
Last edited by nisiprius on Tue Feb 17, 2015 2:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by VictoriaF »

I checked "links.govdelivery.com." There is a known phishing scheme using this URL for impersonating the IRS. At the moment, the Google search on "A Special Message From Social Security" points back to this Bogleheads thread. I expect that we will soon see the official announcement of this scam impersonating the SSA. In the mean time, DO NOT CLICK!

Victoria
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security--NOT!

Post by BostonBoy »

My wife and I both got the E-mail from SS. It's legit.
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security--NOT!

Post by antiqueman »

I got the email today. I don't know if its legit but I am not taking a chance. I will go to SSA website.
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security--NOT!

Post by nisiprius »

BostonBoy wrote:My wife and I both got the E-mail from SS. It's legit.
What make you think it's legit? Have you found anything on the Social Security website that even mentions it?

I don't think it's legit because

a) the link doesn't match its visible text,
b) the link goes someplace unexpected,
c) the link goes to a dot-com domain,
d) I can't think of any valid reason why ssa.gov would be using that link.

There are other things that are strange about it. "If you didn’t receive or misplaced your SSA-1099" doesn't seem like a particularly common problem--especially not this soon after they were sent out--not one that would warrant an urgent mass e-mailing.

Why do you think it IS legit?

And, the "letterhead" presentation in the email I received is subtly different from the one of the real website.

Appearance of the authentic website:
Image

Appearance of the suspicious email. And notice the strange spacing--a space between "Social" and "Security" but not between "Security" and "Online."
Image

Show me where the real Social Security Administration is using the presentation "Social SecurityOnline" with "Social Security" in blue and "Online" in red. It's possible, but I couldn't find it.
Last edited by nisiprius on Tue Feb 17, 2015 4:52 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security--NOT!

Post by Geologist »

I guess I got the same email and the reason I thought it was phish was that the text didn't display in my email program (or my webmail program when I looked online). Instead I got the message that the message uses a character set not supported by my Internet service and I needed to open a file attachment to see the message. I don't do this and instead sent the message direct to the trash.

If it really is from the Social Security Admin, then shame on them for not using a simple, widely recognized text format.
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security--NOT!

Post by serbeer »

Got the same. The link takes one directly to SS site main page, using encryption to connect, so not phishing.
Not really big deal IMO, just advertisement for additional site capabilities. But yes, phishing is always a concern and yes, it pays to stay alert.
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security--NOT!

Post by OAG »

I got it and I already have the referenced SSA Account. Did log on using my usual data and it was fine. Showed my exact benefit payments and Profile was correct in every aspect. If I needed duplicate or replacement SSA Tax Documents the Tab was there. Just my opinion but everything looked legitimate.
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by dolphinsaremammals »

ubermax wrote:
pshonore wrote:Its absolutely not a scam or phishing. It allows online access where you can print certain documents online rather than having to go to the local office or wait for snail mail. I think its good to see SSA getting a little more modern
+1 - got the same email and it looks legit to me for the reasons Pshonore mentioned , however the email that VicF got sounds different and could be phishing - I wouldn't click any link in the email but would instead go to the SSA website .
That message comes out every year, from SSA.
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by Watty »

tbradnc wrote:Run your mouse cursor over the link and have a look at the domain it's pointed to.

No no no .....

There are ways to fake that out.
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by dolphinsaremammals »

VictoriaF wrote:I checked "links.govdelivery.com." There is a known phishing scheme using this URL for impersonating the IRS. At the moment, the Google search on "A Special Message From Social Security" points back to this Bogleheads thread. I expect that we will soon see the official announcement of this scam impersonating the SSA. In the mean time, DO NOT CLICK!

Victoria
Go back and read the IRS warning again, Victoria. You are misinterpreting what they're saying.

I'm done with this thread.
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security--NOT!

Post by BostonBoy »

nisiprius wrote:
BostonBoy wrote:My wife and I both got the E-mail from SS. It's legit.
What make you think it's legit? Have you found anything on the Social Security website that even mentions it?

I don't think it's legit because

a) the link doesn't match its visible text,
b) the link goes someplace unexpected,
c) the link goes to a dot-com domain,
d) I can't think of any valid reason why ssa.gov would be using that link.

There are other things that are strange about it. "If you didn’t receive or misplaced your SSA-1099" doesn't seem like a particularly common problem--especially not this soon after they were sent out--not one that would warrant an urgent mass e-mailing.

Why do you think it IS legit?

And, the "letterhead" presentation in the email I received is subtly different from the one of the real website.

Appearance of the authentic website:
Image

Appearance of the suspicious email. And notice the strange spacing--a space between "Social" and "Security" but not between "Security" and "Online."
Image

Show me where the real Social Security Administration is using the presentation "Social SecurityOnline" with "Social Security" in blue and "Online" in red. It's possible, but I couldn't find it.
I know that it's legit because it links me to the Social Security login page and it's using encryption. I do understand why people are hesitant to use the link. Better safe that sorry.
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by Scotttheking »

VictoriaF wrote:
MSchleicher wrote:Victoria,

Regardless of whether or not SSA is sending out legitimate emails regarding the same content the email claims to be sending you. It is a good practice to avoid clicking any link that you are sent in your email. For years, scammers have been creating phishing emails that replicate legitimate content.
MSchleicher,

I know this; I started this thread to warn others. I have an MS degree in Cybersecurity and CISSP.

Victoria
Victoria, with this knowledge that you have it would be great if you could take the email apart and provide an analysis of it, it's validity, and if valid, you could send it to the social security department with a note of why sending emails such as that one are bad practice. For me, seeing the analysis from a cyber security professional such as yourself would be helpful as I sometimes advise others and knowing if a phishing campaign is going around is helpful.
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security

Post by nisiprius »

I forwarded the email to my gmail account. It is interesting how gmail presents it:

Image
Last edited by nisiprius on Tue Feb 17, 2015 6:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Scotttheking
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security--NOT!

Post by Scotttheking »

BostonBoy wrote:
nisiprius wrote:
BostonBoy wrote:My wife and I both got the E-mail from SS. It's legit.
What make you think it's legit? Have you found anything on the Social Security website that even mentions it?

I don't think it's legit because

a) the link doesn't match its visible text,
b) the link goes someplace unexpected,
c) the link goes to a dot-com domain,
d) I can't think of any valid reason why ssa.gov would be using that link.

There are other things that are strange about it. "If you didn’t receive or misplaced your SSA-1099" doesn't seem like a particularly common problem--especially not this soon after they were sent out--not one that would warrant an urgent mass e-mailing.

Why do you think it IS legit?

And, the "letterhead" presentation in the email I received is subtly different from the one of the real website.

Appearance of the authentic website:
Image

Appearance of the suspicious email. And notice the strange spacing--a space between "Social" and "Security" but not between "Security" and "Online."
Image

Show me where the real Social Security Administration is using the presentation "Social SecurityOnline" with "Social Security" in blue and "Online" in red. It's possible, but I couldn't find it.
I know that it's legit because it links me to the Social Security login page and it's using encryption. I do understand why people are hesitant to use the link. Better safe that sorry.
While I am not assessing the validity of this email, I would like to note that neither of the reasons above (ss login page or encryption) are guarantees of validity. Now, if you analyzed the ssl certificate trust chain that would be a different story.

Regardless, it is TERRIBLE practice for organizations to send out emails such as these, particularly to the elderly, as people can't discern valid from not and then click since they have learned that some are valid. When an organization legitimately sends out poorly structured emails, it is very difficult for an ordinary person to tell real from fake.

Scott
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security--NOT!

Post by pshonore »

Evidently http://www.govdelivery.com is a marketing partner of SSA. Here is a response to an email I sent to info@govdelivery.com. concerning the message in question. Of course someone will no doubt ask how do I know the website (and response) can be trusted?
Thank you for your message. We can confirm that these are legitimate messages from the Social Security Administration. We are provider of messaging services for the agency and this message is set by the agency.

Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

While is it good to be vigilant, this is most likely not phishing
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security--NOT!

Post by Christine_NM »

I've been poking around and I think the ssonline logo is legit. It belongs to a gov contractor whose url is content.govdelivery.com. This outfit seems to be contracted to send messages, tweets, bulletins for a lot of fed agencies and local governments.

I had an old junk email with this logo and kept googling till I found a lot of these messages over the past couple of years. You can't get to that url, you have to be looking for a specific agency and a specific message number. All very weird but surely economical.

I did not get today's message, maybe because I have a "my Social Security" account and unsubscribed to everything. But if it says "powered by govdelivery" and has that logo then it is consistent with other SS messages.

pshonore, you beat me!
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security--NOT!

Post by Marquintosh »

Christine_NM wrote:I've been poking around and I think the ssonline logo is legit. It belongs to a gov contractor whose url is content.govdelivery.com. This outfit seems to be contracted to send messages, tweets, bulletins for a lot of fed agencies and local governments.
pshonore, you beat me!
The email clearly identifies Powered by GovDelivery, looks like a legit company doing it's business on behalf of the SSA.
Image
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security--NOT!

Post by nisiprius »

pshonore wrote:Evidently http://www.govdelivery.com is a marketing partner of SSA. Here is a response to an email I sent to info@govdelivery.com. concerning the message in question. Of course someone will no doubt ask how do I know the website (and response) can be trusted?
Thank you for your message. We can confirm that these are legitimate messages from the Social Security Administration. We are provider of messaging services for the agency and this message is set by the agency.

Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

While is it good to be vigilant, this is most likely not phishing
Maybe. But I would find it more convincing if you had enquired and received this assurance from ssa.gov, rather than govdelivery.com itself!

I would also like a credible explanation of why, exactly, ssa.gov would use an obfuscated link through govdelivery.com when a simple link to the visible address, http://www.socialsecurity.gov/signin ,would work just as well. It seems likely to me that the link through govdelivery.com must be doing something different than a direct link to http://www.socialsecurity.gov/signin would do. What is it?
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security--NOT!

Post by Angst »

nisiprius wrote:I would find it more convincing if you had enquired and received this assurance from ssa.gov, rather than govdelivery.com itself!
No kidding!
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security--NOT!

Post by Christine_NM »

nisiprius -

Here's my unauthorized but credible guess - ssa and govdelivery want to know how many people are responding to the email vs just signing in for the heck of it. To reach a bit here, maybe govdelivery gets paid extra for number of eyeballs/2.

If this stuff bothers you, unsubscribe is your friend.
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Scotttheking
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security--NOT!

Post by Scotttheking »

nisiprius wrote:
pshonore wrote:Evidently http://www.govdelivery.com is a marketing partner of SSA. Here is a response to an email I sent to info@govdelivery.com. concerning the message in question. Of course someone will no doubt ask how do I know the website (and response) can be trusted?
Thank you for your message. We can confirm that these are legitimate messages from the Social Security Administration. We are provider of messaging services for the agency and this message is set by the agency.

Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

While is it good to be vigilant, this is most likely not phishing
Maybe. But I would find it more convincing if you had enquired and received this assurance from ssa.gov, rather than govdelivery.com itself!

I would also like a credible explanation of why, exactly, ssa.gov would use an obfuscated link through govdelivery.com when a simple link to the visible address, http://www.socialsecurity.gov/signin ,would work just as well. It seems likely to me that the link through govdelivery.com must be doing something different than a direct link to http://www.socialsecurity.gov/signin would do. What is it?

Click tracking for reporting purposes.
Browser
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security--NOT!

Post by Browser »

I got it too. GMail identified it as spam. I never open emails that are in the spam folder -- you know why? Because they are SPAM! or worse.
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Cosmo
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security--NOT!

Post by Cosmo »

VictoriaF wrote:I have just received an email with Subject "A Special Message From Social Security." The message suggests to log in to my Social Security account to get tax related information. It seems legitimate. HOWEVER, the message contains links to the sign in, which could be used for phishing. If the message is phishing, it's dangerous; if the message is legitimate, it's irresponsible.

Victoria

EDIT: Added "NOT" to emphasize that it's phishing. DO NOT CLICK!
I got an annual reminder email from them but that sounds different than yours. This one below is indeed legit although I still didn't access the site via the email link still.

Dear Cosmo:

We’d like to remind you to review your Social Security Statement online. The Statement has important Social Security information and, if applicable, estimates of your future benefits.

If you are working, we encourage you to check your Statement yearly to make sure your earnings record is correct. The Statement also will help in planning your financial future.
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Riceman
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security--NOT!

Post by Riceman »

It is a best practice, whenever you receive such a notification, to always independently log on to the website in question using the main site's login page. It takes maybe an additional 3 seconds to do. You can then check if you have a message or business to attend to on the site, while knowing that you have not made a terrible mistake. Best of both worlds for almost no additional trouble.
Herekittykitty
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security--NOT!

Post by Herekittykitty »

pshonore wrote:Evidently http://www.govdelivery.com is a marketing partner of SSA. Here is a response to an email I sent to info@govdelivery.com. concerning the message in question. Of course someone will no doubt ask how do I know the website (and response) can be trusted?
Thank you for your message. We can confirm that these are legitimate messages from the Social Security Administration. We are provider of messaging services for the agency and this message is set by the agency.

Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

While is it good to be vigilant, this is most likely not phishing
The English does not appear to be written by a reasonably educated fluent speaker of English living in the U.S. and certainly not of a native born fluent speaker. The grammar has small errors (it should have none) and in addition the way the English language is used does not flow quite "right."

"Thank you for your message" - should be- "Thank you for your inquiry."

"We can confirm that these are legitimate messages from the Social Security Administration" - should be - "These are legitimate messages from the Social Security Administration" - or better yet - "These messages are from the Social Security Administration"

"We are provider of" - should be "We provide" or at worst "We are the provider of" (The error here is the more passive voice PLUS the omission of a pronoun between "are" and "provider" - it appears that it was made by a native speaker of a language that doesn't use pronouns like they are used in English.

"this message is set by the agency" - "set" is not the correct word. it should either be "sent" or "mandated" or whatever is meant - but "set" isn't appropriate. Better wording: "SSA mandated this message)

"Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns" is not necessary at all. But if used, "us" would be more usual than "we." And "Please contact us with further questions or concerns" would be better. Although - not including this at all would be more expected.

Best: "Thank you for your inquiry. We (give name of company) are contracted by SSA to contact people who have a SSA online account set up, in order to let them know that their accounts have been upgraded to include (whatever the heck it is.)"
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gkaplan
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security--NOT!

Post by gkaplan »

I too received the email.
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security--NOT!

Post by dolphinsaremammals »

Herekittykitty wrote:
pshonore wrote:Evidently http://www.govdelivery.com is a marketing partner of SSA. Here is a response to an email I sent to info@govdelivery.com. concerning the message in question. Of course someone will no doubt ask how do I know the website (and response) can be trusted?
Thank you for your message. We can confirm that these are legitimate messages from the Social Security Administration. We are provider of messaging services for the agency and this message is set by the agency.

Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

While is it good to be vigilant, this is most likely not phishing
The English does not appear to be written by a reasonably educated fluent speaker of English living in the U.S. and certainly not of a native born fluent speaker. The grammar has small errors (it should have none) and in addition the way the English language is used does not flow quite "right."

"Thank you for your message" - should be- "Thank you for your inquiry."

"We can confirm that these are legitimate messages from the Social Security Administration" - should be - "These are legitimate messages from the Social Security Administration" - or better yet - "These messages are from the Social Security Administration"

"We are provider of" - should be "We provide" or at worst "We are the provider of" (The error here is the more passive voice PLUS the omission of a pronoun between "are" and "provider" - it appears that it was made by a native speaker of a language that doesn't use pronouns like they are used in English.

"this message is set by the agency" - "set" is not the correct word. it should either be "sent" or "mandated" or whatever is meant - but "set" isn't appropriate. Better wording: "SSA mandated this message)

"Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns" is not necessary at all. But if used, "us" would be more usual than "we." And "Please contact us with further questions or concerns" would be better. Although - not including this at all would be more expected.

Best: "Thank you for your inquiry. We (give name of company) are contracted by SSA to contact people who have a SSA online account set up, in order to let them know that their accounts have been upgraded to include (whatever the heck it is.)"
Really? "Thank you for your message" is bad English? "We can confirm that these are legitimate messages from the Social Security Administration" is bad English? By whose definition of English? Asked a reasonably educated native English speaker.

I can assure you, normal native English speakers do not worry about passive vs. active voices in informal communication.

And remember that the text you're looking at is not written as an official document for the universe but popped off by some random employee in a minute, no doubt.

I know I said I wasn't coming back to this waste of time thread, but I got sucked in.
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Re: A Special Message From Social Security--NOT!

Post by whomever »

I haven't seen the email, but I'm with Nisiprius, for the reasons he's stated.

I see it as a reverse Pascal's wager - if the email is just the real SSA doing things that it really shouldn't be doing (teaching people to comply with things that look like phishing), then not using the provided links saves me a minute of going thru ssa.gov. But if it is a hack...

Maybe this is because early in my career, before such things were felonies, I spent a lot of time crafting apparently legit login pages to prank my fellow computer nerds. A seemingly legit login that collects your password and then passes you off to the real program was an old trick when we were doing it in the early 1980's. And there is a problem with 'but it delivered me to the real site': by the time you know whether that happens, you've already handed over your password.
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