Shutdown Confusion Is Fueling Scam Calls

When people are worried about food assistance, health coverage, or government services, scammers move fast.

In a Chicago interview, Nomorobo explained how scam callers are exploiting government shutdown confusion with bogus offers tied to SNAP benefits, ACA/open enrollment, and health plans.

According to Nomorobo’s honeypot data, Chicago saw a major increase in suspicious call activity during the shutdown period compared to the same time last year:

• 170% increase in calls hitting Nomorobo’s honeypot phone lines
• 250% increase in unwanted calls, spam calls, and scam calls

That is not just more robocalls.

That is scammers following the headlines.

What Nomorobo Is Seeing

Nomorobo tracks scam activity using a honeypot network of about 300,000 phone lines. These are numbers that have not belonged to real people for years, so when they receive calls, it is a strong signal that the caller may be suspicious.

During the shutdown, two scam themes stood out.

Fake SNAP Benefit Calls

Scammers are promising emergency food money, grocery loans, or “free” help for people worried their SNAP benefits may expire or be delayed.

These calls may ask for personal information, financial details, or benefit-related information. The USDA warns consumers to protect their EBT card number and PIN and avoid sharing them with anyone outside the household.

Fake ACA and Health Plan Calls

Scammers are also using open enrollment to push fake or misleading health plan offers.

They may claim you need to switch plans, lower your premium, confirm eligibility, or provide a credit card number. For real health coverage help, go directly to HealthCare.gov or review HealthCare.gov’s guidance on how to protect yourself from Marketplace fraud and scams.

AI Is Making Scam Calls More Personal

AI voice cloning gets attention, but Nomorobo explained that scammers are also using AI to gather personal details from the web.

That can include names, addresses, old locations, partial Social Security numbers, or other information that makes a call sound more legitimate.

A scammer who says, “Hi, John Smith at 123 Main Street…” may sound more believable than a random robocall.

That is why reducing exposed personal information matters. Nomorobo’s Personal Information Protection helps find and remove personal data from people-search sites and data brokers.