Jun 1, 2000 2:37 AM

By GENARO C. ARMAS

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Census Bureau and a consumer watchdog group are warning people to look out for scam artists who may be masquerading as census-takers, but are actually trying to trick people into giving up Social Security and bank account numbers.

Census director Kenneth Prewitt said he had heard reports of six such scams going on around the country, but did not consider it a serious threat to the success of the once-a-decade population count.

However, such scattered reports often are "just the tip of the iceberg," said Holly Cherico, spokeswoman for the Better Business Bureau.

"This is typical of scams in two ways - it's tied to a timely event that people remember, and it's trading on the legitimacy and credibility of the federal government," Cherico said.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York, ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee's census panel, has asked the FBI to investigate. Census officials say some of the calls appear to be coming from a Baltimore-area phone number.

"They finally gave up. They said 'we understand we get a lot of people who are reluctant, that you have a hard time doing this,"' said Nicole Bennett, a Senate staffer on Capitol Hill, after getting a similar call recently at home. "We both disagreed, and I'm not caustic or easily antagonized."

Similar warnings have also popped up in Arkansas, North Dakota, and in northeastern Pennsylvania, where there is a higher number of elderly residents.

A census-taker will never ask for a Social Security and bank account number at the door or over the phone. They also must wear a Census Bureau identification badge and give you the number of your local Census office so you can verify they are legitimate.

Forms were sent out to 120 million households in March, and 78 million of them have been returned. In April, census-takers began the 10-week task of trying to track down the missing 42 million.

As of Wednesday, Prewitt said that only about 10 million of those homes had yet to be contacted, though those households will be "the most difficult yet."

Those who remain uncounted include hard-to-reach inner-city residents, anti-government people, and those concerned their answers will not remain confidential, Prewitt said.

The Census Bureau hopes an encouraging e-mail sent Wednesday from President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore to census-takers will help.

"We will have to redouble our efforts to reach the remaining 8 percent of households, so that we can deliver to the country the accurate and complete census it needs for the coming decade," Prewitt said.