Dozens of local residents reported receiving phone calls last week purporting to be official alerts from the federal government that their Social Security numbers had been suspended for “apparent fraudulent activity.”

The Federal Trade Commission sent out a warning that those calls are scams attempting to trick people into divulging valuable identifying information or even emptying their own bank accounts to avoid phony threats of arrest and criminal prosecution.

Social Security numbers are never suspended for any reason and no legitimate government agency will ever request sensitive personal information over the phone.

But cunning scammers know plenty of tricks to disguise themselves in a veil of apparent legitimacy, then send out thousands of simultaneous robocalls to ensnare as many people as possible before word of the scam gets out.

One of those near victims was Monica Ingle, the wife of Times and Free Press staffer Jeremy Ingle. With her permission and as a warning to others, Jeremy is sharing this narration of how the scam played out.

By Jeremy Ingle

My wife Monica, ever the trusting soul, and obedient to lawful authority, was conned Thursday by a fake Social Security Administration call, barely an hour after I had posted a warning about it on social media. (She had not seen Facebook, and I had planned on discussing it with her later this evening).

On the way home from Kingfisher, I found her driving toward me with our five kids. She was still on the phone with the scammer, but I didn’t realize it immediately and she said she couldn’t tell me what was going on.

We stopped mid-road and she passed the kids off to me in my truck. I figured something horrible had happened with her family.

But it didn’t feel right. She could tell me if were a family matter.

“What is going on?” I demanded.

She was shaky, and terrified in the eyes. A look of “I am in terrible trouble.”

She knows sign language and tried to sign something to me, but I don’t know sign language, so that didn’t help. I got her to blurt out as much as “Social Security” and I knew.

“NO! NO! NO! It’s a SCAM! It’s FAKE!!” I said, as I got the phone from her and closed it up.

She went weak at the knees and I had to hold her up. She went into full shock mode. She had been on her way to drain the bank account, turn it all into gift cards at Walmart and give it to a “Social Security Administration representative” (who would come to our house) because of some alleged hundreds of millions of dollars of fraud, money laundering, drug deals and other illegal activity that had been done either by us, or in her name.

If she didn’t comply, they’d freeze our bank account and come to our home tomorrow.

They had even asked her for her local sheriff’s office number, which she looked up and gave them. They then used that to pose as our local sheriff’s office on caller ID, to further terrorize and intimidate her. (For all she knew, the original call was 100% official from the real SSA as well).

They told her she’d be arrested, which made her terrified more for the kids’ sake than anything else. She had visions of DHS coming and taking away kids that were otherwise well-cared for.

They had told her not to tell anyone what was going on...not even her husband (because he may be the one responsible for the fraud).

That’s why she couldn’t tell me. They had made her afraid of me with their sick, psychological mind games.

I convinced her to quit answering the phone. They kept calling back. Over, and over, and over...as the SSA...as the local Sheriff...for the next 10 to 15 minutes.

Every time the phone started ringing again, she panicked into tears.

Thankfully, I actually know some of our local sheriff’s deputies, and the sheriff himself. I used to work there.

I called them – on another phone – and asked for a deputy whose voice I knew I would recognize.

After making a report there, we’ve contacted the bank, the SSA (the real one, this time) and the Federal Trade Commission.

Anyone can be duped at sometime or another. It’s not fun, and yes, it is embarrassing.

But provided no one is hurt and nothing is lost, it can be a good lesson learned...and a lesson to share with others.

If you believe you may have been a victim of a telephone scam or other type of identity theft related to your Social Security number, visit www.identitytheft.gov/ssa for more information and advice.