538. Watch Out for This Scam

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I'm extending my sale.  All my historical novels are available in print at ten dollars each until then, for anyone who can come to my West Village apartment to pay for their purchase and collect it.

If you're interested, contact me by e-mail: 

        cliffbrowder@verizon.net

And now, au revoir and hasta la vista.

                Watch Out for This Scam

It came as a phone call to me.  A woman’s voice with a thick foreign accent identified the caller as Medicare and asked if I had received my new Medicare card.  No, I said, though only half understanding her English.  She then said they would mail it to me and verified my address, which she already had.  She said more, but I couldn’t understand her.  Annoyed, I finally hung up.

The moment I did so, I realized it had to be a scam.  Medicare would inform me of such a development — a new card, superseding the old one — by sending me a letter on official stationery.  And they would never entrust the notification to someone whose speech was almost incomprehensible.  She was probably in some Asian country like India or Bangladesh, where many of these scams originate.  Was I in danger?  Probably not, for I had given them no information, only confirmed what they already had.  But watch out for this scam.

I am beset with obvious scams, and with suspect phone calls and e-mails.  Any message with the words “urgent,” “this is your last chance,” “you are about to lose…,” and similar warnings prompt me to hang up or delete the e-mail.  Likewise e-mails confirming my purchase of some item for a huge sum, when I have made no such purchase.

And they repeat.  I have heard by phone from Amy at least six times.  She announces, “Hello, this is Amy with Medical Services.

Your name was given to us by a medical professional....”  What she then proposes I do not know, since I hang up at once.  Why am I suspicious?  She doesn’t address me by name; her message addresses anyone.  And she doesn’t name the “medical professional” involved.  Vague, vague, vague.  

These phony phone calls ring four times, then stop.  This tells me I’m simply a name on a long list.  If there’s no answer after four rings, the caller goes on to the next name on the list.

I sometimes wonder who these scammers are.  Does Amy know what she’s been hired to do?  Is it just a job to her, no matter how dubious?  Or is she self-employed and reaping any profits herself?  In any case, it's a wretched way to make a living, exploiting the good faith, vulnerability, or ignorance of others.

©  2021  Clifford Browder