The Social Security Administration recently issued two alerts about the program.
Many people who access information about their Social Security benefits through a “my Social Security” account on the Social Security website (which I recommend doing) will have to access their accounts in a different way.
The SSA says that anyone who created an account before September 18, 2021, soon will have to access the account through either login.gov or ID.me.
These are two Credential Service Providers that many other government online services use to provide additional security and protection and simplify sign-in experiences.
If you already have an account with either of those services, you won’t need to create a new one. Otherwise, at some point in the near future you’ll have to create an account with one of those services to access your my Social Security account. It’s best to create an account with those services sooner rather than later.
The other alert regards fraudulent reports you might have seen online or in emails.
The reports say that Social Security beneficiaries are due an additional $600 cost of living adjustment (COLA) during 2024 to supplement the COLA implemented at the start of the year. Some reports say beneficiaries are due to receive a $600 stimulus check.
The reports simply are false. They apparently were generated by websites that try to attract a lot of public attention to maximize their rankings in online search engines. That helps these “content farms” charge more for the ads on their websites.
The next real Social Security COLA will be announced in October and will take effect January 1, 2025.
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