VERY SOPHISTICATED SCAM

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VERY SOPHISTICATED SCAM

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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.

Elder Abuse Frauds & Scams

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I had a service visit today. I’m getting ready to retire and don’t want clients calling me at home. So having number changed and some other work done. The technician asked if I wanted my number blocked from showing on other folks caller ID. I said no. He said I should consider because, various restaurants, pharmacies, etc. sell their telephone lists and that’s how scammers and others get out telephone numbers. So I had it blocked.

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WOW! It's scary how vulnerable we all are, especially when they can use the kind of information we trust as verification such as phone numbers.

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Thank you so much for this information!!!

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Ugh!!! Stupid criminals. They ruin everything. So happy you ruined HIS day ;-)

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Alva, I'm sorry that you encountered this low life.   Do you have alerts on your credit files? If not, I would place them, today.   You might also want to alert any agencies (such as SS) with numbers and data provided in the application.

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.

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This was a phone call, GardenArtist. My own credit is on lockdown, yes, and has been for many years. We can put a block on it in California and I suspect now in other states as well. I don't know that my brother's is but he has little out there and I am watching pretty much like a hawk. But this was a phone call, the number showing up as 1800medicare, which I understand they can do; if you call it back it does go to medicare. And this person had seen the letter and forms filled out as you have to do for medicare to share information and allow another payer (they asked for these forms and my POA when I called them) so he actually had the letter and the POA permission. He was from inside, clearly, so one of these things, either his job at Medicare OR his job scamming is a part time job. He first asked to speak to me, said he was Medicare, and said that the phone call would be recorded. He was clipped and professional and said he had my letter in front of him and the POA. He said that there were questions he had but for identication purposes he had to ask for my name and my brothers. He then started in on he would need 5 ID verifications to which I said "I will not be giving you identification numbers and such because you called me; I have no way of knowing if you are a scammer or are really from Medicare". At that point his nice professional demeanor went mean fast and he said "If you don't want calls don't write your cell down for our questions; we will write you." Slam of phone. When I called medicare to report him, they said it was a scammer and they never call. Only write, and I can be assured of that.
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.

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Alva, you mentioned the issue of someone being out of the home.    I've seen that, and experienced it.   Although one of the neighbors is intelligent enough to refuse to give any information as to my father's property, but will contact me herself if someone has questions, not all the neighbors are that cautious.

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.

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I had a tortie cat who took care of trespassers. Wish I had a camera back then to record her coming out of the bushes, all fluffed out, running sideways the ways cats do when encountering an unknown cat. She chased many a person, especially people walking their dog and the dog wanting to [ahem] squat on the lawn.

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Alva, thanks so much about this scam. I'll let others know about this, as it sounded so legit.

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.

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Thank you for this information, it is so scary how low these scammers will go to get you to part with our vital information, and our money.

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!

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This is exactly why I never answer my phone if I don’t recognize the number....

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AlvaDeer, do you have any idea how the crook knew about your POA papers to Medicare? I wonder if Medicare has a security breach. Or someone on the inside tried to scam you, or stole or sold your info to crooks.

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Polarbear, there is no security breach, just luck of the draw with robo callers.

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They now scan anything you send into their systems. I too would wonder how this info was gotten. Sounds like they can hack into Medicares system. I would call back and explain this to an IT guy. Maybe he can look at Dads account and see who has accessed it. Scary.

VERY SOPHISTICATED SCAM

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