My mom was in the hospital a couple of years ago. Before then, we just got the normal criminals calling, Rachel, "Free" Cruises, car warranty, alarms, Microsoft, etc.
Starting a week or so after she got out, we started getting loads of medical and senior scam calls. Got the backbrace one a few dozen times, various insurance and drug calls.... and so on.
I suspect, but cannot prove, that some slimeball at the hospital is making some money selling people's medical records to these criminals.
If I could figure a way to prove it, I think it would be real news, and involve real jail time for those people.
Maybe. Yes it could be the hospital. Could also be an insurance company, an insurance agent's office, hacked records at Medicare... Lot's of places for info leaks. If there was a large bill that is on a payment plan with the hospital, that could now be on her credit reports with the Big Three. Could be the MIB, the Medical Information Board, that is a bit of a long shot, but a Doctor or Hospital may have made a report to the MIB. If Mom had a ride in an ambulance, that is a good place to look for leaks. The companies that do those billings are a disgrace. They will send bills to Mom, to her insurance or Medicare and even the kids. They are looking to sneak in double payments. So if they can make a dime selling info? Sure!
The triggers here are her age and a medical claim. That is all it takes to start getting a rush of calls. Any database that has her age, her social, her address and phone is prime for a leak. When a person files for Social Security, those calls will start coming in as well. Even a simple change of address will trigger calls. Take hard look at the change of address cards the US Post Office has, there used to be a question about opting out of notification of Post Office "partners".
On this site, the lesson learned is that if you want fewer calls, if you value your privacy, you need to cut down on leaks, and it is NOT easy for most people to do that.
I think you are right there. Too many hands out and all of them have your personal info to use and abuse.
Hadn't thought about the ambulance service, but I am familiar with the double and triple billing practices. Seems like every medically related organization we have dealt with does it. They promise it's covered by Medicare, or your insurance, and you find out later that it was paid by them, and yet you still get multiple bills for the same things.
We talked to many of them about it, and were assured that they had record of payment, and they wouldn't send the bills to collections. But they did anyway. It always seems to be the fault of some office in a different state.
So now in addition to all the normal scam calls, we also get several calls a day from collection agents harassing us about bills that have already been paid.
Super-Slimeball The Collection agent's super hearing kicks in. "Somewhere, someone had a bill that needed to be paid! We've got to get in on that action!"
The whole system is broken. Deliberately.
I don't think that right now there is a good way to cut down on calls. I have a cellphone which only about 6 people I know have the number for, and yet for every call from one of them, I get 10 scammers.
The landline at home is worse.
For example, in the past 7 days I have gotten 20 calls on the land line (so far..), 3 of those have been legitimate, the rest have been either criminals, or collection agents. [Not really a difference there]
Perhaps the problem is that the number has been the same for 40 years, and has never been unlisted. I'm sure it's on a thousand databases out there. But judging from what I read here, and other places, that doesn't seem to matter much.
I've been using Phonetray for a few years now, and it helps a bunch, but I still get several calls a week from new unique numbers. I can't just whitelist the real numbers and block everything else because I never know what number some doctor or insurance agent will call from.
At least I know not to jump to answer the phone anymore. Unless it rings more than twice I know it's been blocked. And even after, they can always leave a message. Which Docs and hospitals almost always do.
Ah the good old days, when the phone rang, it was for us, and if not it was an honest wrong number. We always answered it, and were polite, and expected the same from everyone else...
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Lisa
My parents appear on our caller ID as Unknown name, private number but I asked them if they tried calling me and they told me it's not them. I have gotten 3 phone calls so far from this "unknown name, private number" and each time I answer they wait 2 seconds then hang up. Wish there was something I could do to stop it but I cannot block those calls because my parents phone shows up that way.
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Alex
Got this call on 11/22/17 around 2 pm. They left message offering lower credit card interest. These are proven crooks, but they seem to be able to keep it up. Do not answer.
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Roe
I just received one of these unknown name, private number calls this evening and let it ring through since I absolutely refuse to answer unknown callers. Leave a message if you have to and lo and behold this was the first time that a voice mail was left so of course I had to listen to it since it could be anything. Good grief, this time it was press 1 if I think favorable for Donald Trump, press 2 for unfavorable, press 3 for unknown. Yeah, like I am going to press anything. Just deleted the message. I was actually surprised to see the voice mail icon, I was sitting at my desktop and just glanced up after the ringing stopped. There is a first for everything, LOL.
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L
| 1 reply
Thank goodness for BLOCKING. When I made the mistake of answering on the ONLY ring, it is usually a local contractor (SCAM) or solar sales (another SCAM).
If the phone rings once, the call may have been "blocked", but the disturbing part of the call (the ring) was not. Why do you tolerate even a single ring?
-2
L
Thank goodness for BLOCKING. When I made the mistake of answering on the ONLY ring, it is usually a local contractor (SCAM) or solar sales (another SCAM).
+2
Willie
"Private Number" called my cell. Male voice left a message: "I hope I've got the right number. I believe I do. This is -?- calling back. Do you still have roof damage from those recent storms ..... " There was more, but I deleted the message without listening to the rest of it.
If you are contacted by a person, and they let you know the reason for their call, simply place the phone down on the kitchen table and continue to go about your business. They will not be able to go into their script, but will only have to wait until you pick up the phone again. If you do, and they still are on the line, lay it down again. This has worked for me many times.
-1
ME
I got this call with unknown name private number 4/5/19 fortunately I was on phone so it went back vm. I get a recording from "Josh" " catching up on us and promising to help us make 100k a week? via 7kcash dot com??!!!
-2
dominy7
| 1 reply
Received call from unknown number at 1.43 pm est on May 2. The message left was a computerized voice, stating he was from the Dept. Of Social Security Administration (first clue—incorrect name of agcy), and that my SSN had been suspended due to suspicious activity. Hmmm. I call scam.
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