A woman recently contacted me that she had received a phone call saying that they were from Medicare and needed to verify the persons information. I think we all have the mindset if someone on the phone claims to be with an agency that we are familiar with, that they would not mean us any harm. Unfortunately, times have changed in the world today where we do need to question a caller’s honesty without feeling like we are being rude to them. I think the best approach is to tell the caller that you are in the middle of something and ask for their name and phone number in order to call them back. Medicare will not call someone unless they have mailed a letter out first. I would call Medicare to see if they are trying to reach you. If you do give your information to the caller do not beat yourself up over the mistake. There have been numerous data breaches in the past few years where our private information has been stolen from large companies. There are several things you can do to protect yourself: Call Medicare to advise them you were a victim of fraud, call your financial institution and credit card company to have them monitor your account for any fraudulent activity, and lastly place a fraud alert or credit freeze on your credit report by contacting the 3 credit bureaus which are Transunion, Experian, and Equifax. You can do that online at their official websites. I think the best way to combat scams is to tell others so in the future they will not be a victim of the same scam.
