Last week, a local resident called the Social Security office in Ames to report that she had received a phone call that she thought we needed to know about. The caller claimed to be from Social Security and asked her for her bank information so he could send her a new Social Security card. She was suspicious of the call, so hung up and called the local police. She also reported the caller to the State Attorney General’s office, and she called us.

This alert lady did all the right things. Social Security does not call people on the phone to ask for their bank information. When folks who receive benefits from us need to set up direct deposit or change direct deposit information, they may call us to do that, and we take the information from them. But notice that the beneficiary calls us, not the other way around.

Such changes can also be initiated at the bank, with the help of a personal banker. Or, our website, www.socialsecurity.gov, offers beneficiaries an opportunity to set up or change direct deposit in a secure environment.

We urge people to be cautious with personal information, and as with our caller yesterday, if you aren’t comfortable providing information to someone who has called you, just hang up. We appreciate knowing that such schemes are around, so we can alert others to the need for caution.