VERY SOPHISTICATED SCAM
I am acting as POA for my bro. Recently I sent a form he and I completed to Medicare, along with my POA papers to Medicare that included "share information" and mailing information.
Today I received a call from a 1-800 number that checked out as belonging to Medicare. The person began by mentioning my letter and my POA papers, so he knew ALL ABOUT THIS letter, and clearly his information came from "inside".
He then proceeded to say he would ask for 5 pieces of information to prove who I am/ who my brother is, and quickly began his questions. I stopped him with Question One and said "I cannot give you any private information on the phone as regards to any numbers belonging to myself or my brother; you called me, and I have no way to verify this call is not a scam".
At which point the man went from "very nice and time-pressed professional" to very nasty, with an almost shouted out response of "If you didn't want to give out information you should not have included your cell phone".
He then hung up on me.
I called Medicare to report this call and was told "WE NEVER CALL YOU; we only communicate by mail. This was a scam". I told her the reasons I felt this was information got from "the inside".
So if you are acting as POA or managing any bills, monies for anyone please be very careful out there. They are WELL AWARE and can get information on our families from us so easily. They are very professional sounding. I thought I was well up on how scams work, but they are very sophisticated. The woman told me they now have machinery that allows them to show on your phone as 1-800-Medicare or as the Medicare number, and in fact if you call back you will GET Medicare. But they are a scam.
It is to this moment difficult for me to accept this man was a scammer. He was VERY GOOD AT WHAT HE DOES. "I asked her a few times, "You NEVER call?" and she replied that they do not.
Please be careful out there.
They are now doing a good deal more than just the fake Social Security call. And they are excellent at their job. And some of them are working from the inside, with a whole lot of access to your info.
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You're wise not to answer; it serves no purpose, unless you want to play games with them (which I sometimes do), such as ask them to explain how you could be calling yourself, if you've been cloned, etc.
It is a wild new world out there!
MIL's phone no longer rings into the house (we think a mouse nibbled on part of the wire) and honestly, we've decided not to fix it. She can call out, we live 3 miles down the road and can be there in 5 minutes if she calls. Honestly, she was getting to where she rarely heard the phone ringing anyway, so 9 out of 10 calls she missed even when it DID ring in, LOL.
Stories like this, only confirm that we are doing the right thing. Kudos to you for being alert and catching it!!
The form that you and your brother completed - what was it, where did you get it? Was it a Medicare form? If so, what's the number code on it? (Federal dox often have number and year codes.)
When you sent the POA and info to Medicare, your mentioned a "share information" option. I assume then that you didn't draft the letter yourself? Did you respond to a post card? Letter? Other? Or was the POA form you completed a Medicare specific form with a "share information" provision on the form?
Then when the scammer approached you, it was by phone, right? Was your phone number listed or identified either in a letter or on the form that you sent to Medicare?
You wrote the incoming phone number "checked out as belonging to Medicare". I assume you called Medicare back to confirm it was their number?
I'm puzzled by the "share information" option, so I'm assuming that you responded to some form or other, as opposed to writing a letter. I think this form might be the source of the leak, or data theft.
I'm wondering if the caller was with an assigned contractor, i.e., a subcontractor. I don't know if Medicare does this, but it may farm out (subcontract) some work to another company, especially to handle specific aspects of their data processing.
I am amazed at how many people fall for the IRS scam and other type of scams where one has to go out and purchase iTunes gift cards. I mean right there wouldn't one think it was odd that the IRS would want iTune cards? I get a daily local police report, and every day one or two people got caught up in such a scam, and these aren't seniors but much younger people. These younger people need to get off their Smartphones and watch the local and world news nightly.
One even gave my number to one of those "flippers" who pretended to want to buy Dad's house. GRRRR! I'm sure it was innocent enough, but ...no common sense. She probably told the jerk it was vacant too.
One woman had been stopped by a neighbor when she was beginning to dig up some flowers. The neighbor told her she needed to contact me; the good neighbor called me. The woman had said that she was just going to dig up the flowers, but listened to the advice of the first neighbor.
Can you imagine? As if she had any right to be trespassing in the first place.
I'd like to get a motion activated recording of a vicious dog, to scare away other would be thieves. I think the dog from the famous Hound of the Baskervilles would be a good candidate. If I remember correctly, it had quite a vicious growl.
I can't tell you how many times I have received scam calls, especially when we were caring for my FIL. It seems that Medicare recipients are increasingly vulnerable, probably due to them having readily available retirement funds that are so easily scammed away from unsuspecting Seniors, with all of these Sophisticated Scam Rings out there. We especially recieved the Grandparent Scam at least 6 times, and many other phone scammers too. They are "good", and you can easily be deceived. Always be on Alert ! Thanks Again!
And it wouldn't hurt to change your credit cards out either.
Just curious: was this a postcard form? I get these regularly; they're just sales pitches. I usually cut out my information tape over the hole, then send it back, with snide remarks addressing their integrity.
I think one of the most audacious are the ones who spoof my number. On one day I got around 10 of these calls.
I just found a really good sight on the wide range and variety of scams; it's well worth skimming through, but is probably already obsolete as these crooks constantly try to find ways to defraud people.
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2015/07/getting-calls-your-own-number
You are to be congratulated for sharing this with us. I'm sure it wasn't easy. And as you say, these people are good at their jobs; they're trained in how to exploit people.
In today's mail I received a poorly identified letter alleging to be from some kind of local neighborhood group, asking that I use a specific code to join this alleged online neighborhood group and share information on other neighbors, sales, freebies, etc.
I've seen these before; I think they're trying to create the FreeCycle type environment. But there's no way I'm using some supplied code to "join" a group of people about whom I know nothing.
If you are acting as POA for someone, say who has entered care, think of the entities that are aware of that person being "out of commission". Almost all of them. And there are people out there working now at getting information. Scary as heck, really as I pride myself on being up on the scam calls.
Today you can't even get a cell phone plan without unlocking the lock on credit and so it can be a real mess, but should likely be done.
You have no idea the mess I have gone through with his demolished truck and the tow company who claims they lost the title on it and blah blah and when I went to the DMV and spent the day they said it happens all the time because they don't want to do the transfer of ownership so they just say they lost the paperwork, then send two lien letters and then the sheriff signs them over the truck. The stuff I daily deal with and learn out here at 77 is curdling my blood and it is why I tell people over and over , caution them really, DON'T do POA or Trustee of Trust unless you are up to it. It is a JOB of dealing and of record keeping. I would rather the state did it. Happy to pay, hee hee.