This is not a scam. Both my husband and myself have gone through this in order to create accounts with certain government agencies. Just make sure you use the legitimate link when creating such accounts!
Sure, it definitely feels creepy. We encountered this as early as April of 2024 when we had to send some information to the IRS, so this is not a current administration’s “innovation.”
We started a login.gov account several years ago, and do not remember needing to supply DL, new photos or Passport (what if you don’t have one?). Just asked DH if he remembered supplying all that information, as I may have easily forgotten. Not that he recalls either. Anyone else? Is that new? I would also be skeptical!
The only time I had to supply a photo online was when applying for passport renewal. I normally just have to enter a bunch of other info to sign up for accounts. If I’m using official govt site, I always kept my fingers crossed it hasn’t been hacked and is legit. So far so good.
I have ID.me for fed govt and another similar one for state of HI. I never supplied my DL either. I did need to supply my medicare # & the month & year I started Medicare A. (I was able to calculate the latter as the month I turned 65.). My Physical Therapist provided my Medicare # but I believe I could have gotten it from my Electronic Medical Records as well.
Not skeptical. The ID dot ME thing is relatively new. We had to get that verification to create account with the IRS in 2024. At our companies, all patent and trademark attorneys had to go through that process recently to be able to login into their accounts that were created many years ago! There was a lot of unhappy chatter… but they all did it, too.
See, for example:
I already have a login.gov account to access the state dept. foreign travel registration page. Apparently you set up an enhanced login.gov for SSA info. The screen shows the login.gov logo, a plus sign, and the SSA logo.
I wonder if this is a bait and switch? I ordered a $82 Prana black XS full zip jacket from Amazon. I got a Prana cream XS half zip hoodie instead. I was in the process of returning it for full refund and it offered me to keep it and $15 refund instead. Weird- is this new?
Full zip vs 1/2 zip and black vs light color? Wow, I wouldn’t be pleased. I’ve not experienced getting a wrong order and then wanting me to keep it for a reduced price.
The closest I came to that was when I ordered a Welch Allyn blood pressure monitor and pediatric cuff. When I complained that the small cuff looked like it was made for a different machine, they gave me a full refund for the cuff & sent me QR codes to return the other items. H was able to figure out how to make the small cuff work so we kept it.
If you want what you originally ordered, I hope you get it.
Whoops—nearly fell for one—email for winning a “free Harry & David chocolate basket.”. It was in my inbox but I looked at whom it was from—a suspected scammer with UK email. Ok—sent to junk mailbox. Yikes! Probably would never have provided the info they wanted if I had opened the email but yikes!
Received an email yesterday to donate on Giving Tuesday. It was from an organization that I donated to years ago. Looked legitimate but, just to be sure, I went to the organization’s website. Sure enough, they had updated their logo to something different from the email. I deleted it.
