Annoying Medicare Phone Calls

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

The calls don't last that long thanks to my insults but I wonder what's in it for them. Are they fishing for credit card numbers or are they selling a product like insurance?

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I walked into the dining room, where my husband had his credit card in his hand and was about to give someone his number. I grabbed the phone and asked who it was. Turned out they had already gotten him to relinquish control of his computer and the only way I could back out was to cut the power.

After a good talking to, my naïve husband never got into that situation again.


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[JGalt]

I'm calling scam on all of these calls. So be careful what you say. Don't say "yes' or 'okay" or any other such affirmative to anything. Don't dial the number they tell you to call. Best just to hang up.

You're probably right. All of the calls seem to end up transferred to some Hindu with a barely-understandable accent, and the sounds of a call center in the background.

 

[JGalt]

Block numbers....

Are they trying to sell you a policy or are they trying to arrange a home doctor visit?

Recently I discovered that if the home doctor decides you have any special health problems the Medicaid provider can get up to 300% more from the government for your care and keeping.
So naturally they going to come find something wrong with you. This is one of those arrangements that Trump was talking about that ends up being a rip off on the taxpayers.

I'm not sure if the numbers can even be blocked. They're all showing up with no area code and the caller ID is being spoofed to make it look like the calls are coming from various towns in my state.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

I'm not sure if the numbers can even be blocked. They're all showing up with no area code and the caller ID is being spoofed to make it look like the calls are coming from various towns in my state.

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A neighbor says that our local service provider can actually block those annoying calls. She says she stopped getting them. I'm going to give them a call and ask them about this service.


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[OhPleaseJustQuit]

I'm not sure if the numbers can even be blocked. They're all showing up with no area code and the caller ID is being spoofed to make it look like the calls are coming from various towns in my state.

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Some of them even look like they come from my area code and prefix, which means my tiny town! Crazy!


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[JGalt]

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Some of them even look like they come from my area code and prefix, which means my tiny town! Crazy!


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Most every one of them show up as some town in my state.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

Most every one of them show up as some town in my state.

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Yep. I get plenty that are spoofed to look like towns in my state too. Those are easy because I don't know anyone in any other part of the state.


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[Foxfyre]

You're probably right. All of the calls seem to end up transferred to some Hindu with a barely-understandable accent, and the sounds of a call center in the background.

Exactly. My personal informed opinion is to be very careful with those kinds of calls. They are recording you and will keep you on the line as long as they can hoping to get you to say 'yes' or 'okay' or some other phrase they can dub into another conversation in which you are authorizing some purchase or otherwise can be used for some nefarious purchase.

If they can get you to give your full name, birthdate, even the last four digits of your social security number, your Medicare card number of whatever, you have been seriously compromised. That is true of all scam calls, not just those pretending to be Medicare.

 

[whitehall]

I'm guessing most are just looking for $8.00 per hour to make the calls. Their boss decides what to do with the information.

It's a shitty way to make a living but the question remains what the hell they are selling.

 

[BULLDOG]

It's a shitty way to make a living but the question remains what the hell they are selling.

No idea. I'm pretty sure information is what they are looking for.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

No idea. I'm pretty sure information is what they are looking for.

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I've heard that it requires just a four second sample of your voice for A-I to make a recording of you saying anything they want you to say.

When I answer what might be an unknown call, I cough and then lower my voice to a growl and only say one or two words. By then I can figure out what's up and hang up if necessary.


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[Robert W]

Anyone else getting them? I'm getting two to three per day right now. They always show up on the caller ID as a city and number in my state. I don't know how they're doing that, but they're aliasing their location to make it look like it's a local number. They always begin with a recorded female voice saying "hello?" If you respond, then you hear a recording of a women saying "Hi, this is (some woman's name.) The recording continues by saying "I'm with Medicare Services..blah blahh...Do you have Medicare Parts A and B"? If you answer "yes", they shift you off to some guy with a thick Indian or Middle Eastern accent. Then they start asking you questions about your age, your Medicare coverage, and stuff. If you don't give them the answer they want, they just hang up on you.

So here's what I'ma gonna do: Tomorrow morning I'm going to the Marine/Boating section in the sporting goods department at Walmart. I'm going to spend about $5 and get one of those air horns with the compressed gas in the can. And next time I get someone on the line, which will be tomorrow, whoever that is on the other end of the line going to lose their hearing in whatever ear they're using.

Am I an "asshole"?

You betcha.

NEVER under any circumstances say YES when the scammer asks, can you hear me.

Best in your example is to not talk and hang up very fast.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

NEVER under any circumstances say YES when the scammer asks, can you hear me.

Best in your example is to not talk and hang up very fast.

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I have also told all my friends that if they don't IMMEDIATELY identify themselves, I will hang up on them. That way, if there's more than a second of silence, I assume it's a robo-dialed scammer and hang up.

If it's someone else who has a legitimate reason to call me, they'll call back.


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[Robert W]

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I've heard that it requires just a four second sample of your voice for A-I to make a recording of you saying anything they want you to say.

When I answer what might be an unknown call, I cough and then lower my voice to a growl and only say one or two words. By then I can figure out what's up and hang up if necessary.


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Scammers are all over. Even on Facebook. I love to see the youtube videos of Laura Farms and got noticed on Facebook she got divorced and wanted dates?
I saw her post to me and calling me honey. I went to YouTube and Laura still is posting with her husband in her videos. I knew it was a scammer on Facebook. I replied to her-HIM??, Laura and her husband are happily married and farming well. Scammer claimed Laura is divorced hoping to snare me. I ignored that post.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

Scammers are all over. Even on Facebook. I love to see the youtube videos of Laura Farms and got noticed on Facebook she got divorced and wanted dates?
I saw her post to me and calling me honey. I went to YouTube and Laura still is posting with her husband in her videos. I knew it was a scammer on Facebook. I replied to her-HIM??, Laura and her husband are happily married and farming well. Scammer claimed Laura is divorced hoping to snare me. I ignored that post.

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Sounds familiar, although I use FB very little, just to keep in contact with church people.

If I see it again, I'll remember you.

I have been so careful and after I lost almost $100 to an identity thief, I changed banks and never again had a problem. The one bank I had the problem with was Key. You'd think a bank of their size would be better equipped to protect its clients from fraud. I've been with two small local banks since then, who have exceptional fraud detection service. Zero problems.


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[Robert W]

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Sounds familiar, although I use FB very little, just to keep in contact with church people.

If I see it again, I'll remember you.

I have been so careful and after I lost almost $100 to an identity thief, I changed banks and never again had a problem. The one bank I had the problem with was Key. You'd think a bank of their size would be better equipped to protect its clients from fraud. I've been with two small local banks since then, who have exceptional fraud detection service. Zero problems.


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PM me if you want my facebook name.

 

[HeyNorm]

Anyone else getting them? I'm getting two to three per day right now. They always show up on the caller ID as a city and number in my state. I don't know how they're doing that, but they're aliasing their location to make it look like it's a local number. They always begin with a recorded female voice saying "hello?" If you respond, then you hear a recording of a women saying "Hi, this is (some woman's name.) The recording continues by saying "I'm with Medicare Services..blah blahh...Do you have Medicare Parts A and B"? If you answer "yes", they shift you off to some guy with a thick Indian or Middle Eastern accent. Then they start asking you questions about your age, your Medicare coverage, and stuff. If you don't give them the answer they want, they just hang up on you.

So here's what I'ma gonna do: Tomorrow morning I'm going to the Marine/Boating section in the sporting goods department at Walmart. I'm going to spend about $5 and get one of those air horns with the compressed gas in the can. And next time I get someone on the line, which will be tomorrow, whoever that is on the other end of the line going to lose their hearing in whatever ear they're using.

Am I an "asshole"?

You betcha.

This might give you some immediate satisfaction, but, if I were the scammer, I’d put your phone number out on the web so each and every scammer in the world would get your number.

Best to just let those numbers go to voice mail and delete.

 

[JGalt]

This might give you some immediate satisfaction, but, if I were the scammer, I’d put your phone number out on the web so each and every scammer in the world would get your number.

Best to just let those numbers go to voice mail and delete.

Those calls don't ever go to voicemail, as they're automated. IN every call, it first starts with a little "bleep" sound, and then goes to a recorded voice of some woman who says "Hello?"

If you don't answer the recorded voice of say something like "**** you", their machine hangs up on you. If you respond with "hello", the recorded voice asks you questions ab out your Medicare coverage." If you respond, you get transferred to some Hadji or Hindu who tries to ask you a bunch of questions. I used to just get abusive with them, curse at them, and get them mad at me. But now I don't respond.

 

[HeyNorm]

Those calls don't ever go to voicemail, as they're automated. IN every call, it first starts with a little "bleep" sound, and then goes to a recorded voice of some woman who says "Hello?"

If you don't answer the recorded voice of say something like "**** you", their machine hangs up on you. If you respond with "hello", the recorded voice asks you questions ab out your Medicare coverage." If you respond, you get transferred to some Hadji or Hindu who tries to ask you a bunch of questions. I used to just get abusive with them, curse at them, and get them mad at me. But now I don't respond.

BTW. I was getting 6 to 10 a day. I now get maybe 2 a month. I think just ignoring them eventually cures it.

 

[JGalt]

BTW. I was getting 6 to 10 a day. I now get maybe 2 a month. I think just ignoring them eventually cures it.

Well I checked with the phone company and evidently selective call rejection is one of the features we have with our land line. Even though my caller ID only identifies the call with a spoofed city name, the selective call rejection tells me the area code and number, and allows me to put it on a list of numbers that won't be allowed to connect.

Problem solved.