Possible phone scam...be careful!

[BookNut]

It might be nothing. I got a phone call the other day. Forgot to look at who was calling. A pleasnat and professional sounding woman said, "I am calling as a referral from Dr. B (she named my asthma doctor..though she mispronounced the name). I need to confirm your date of birth". Of course I asked who she was. She simply repeated the question. I told her I was not going to give her ANY information unless she told me who she was. Her response? "I cannot talk to you unless you confirm your date of birth." Naturally I told her there was no way.

I can't help but wonder whether somehow scammers are getting the names of doctors to gain folks trust...and then who knows what might happen?

Of course I let my doctor's office know and they are trying to figure out what it might have been all about. I am working on getting Xolair shots, and there are pharmacies, and also a request for financial aid involved, so maybe it is related to that.

Anyway..I just thought I should post a warning.

[Jaypfei]

I don't blame you. I don't give out any sensitive info over the phone. More than likely it was a scammer. Another big scam with identity theft is getting your medical info to use your health insurance. Yeah. I just had to shake my head over that.

[annekat]

Thanks for the heads up, Jacquie. In this day and age, scammers are resorting to all sorts of methods. I keep getting some sort of robo-call on my cell phone, never a message, and I never answer. There are ways of researching numbers on the internet to find out who they are from. This one was listed as an invalid number, whatever that means. The searches I found were free, but I don't know how reliable they are.

[Debbie C]

There were hackers here that got info from one of the hosp. we go to so now they have the 3 companies (Equifax, ? ,? ) looking for any identify theft for a year. We are always getting calls from overseas ( usally Jamicans ) saying we won something. Now with caller id we don't answer the phone unless we know them. And it is worse with the holidays....BE CAREFUL EVERYONE !!!

[vdub]

....they have the 3 companies (Equifax, ? ,? )

For those of you in the US. The 3 companies you are thinking of is Equifax, Transunion, and Experian -- they are US credit bureaus. Most states now allow you to freeze all credit reporting from any of the 3 credit bureaus. Freezing your credit reporting makes it very difficult for anyone to get credit as you, but not impossible. The downside is that you can't get credit either -- at least, not without the secret codes they give you. If you don't need a lot of credit, i.e., you don't change cell phones, don't trade cars a lot, don't get new credit cards frequently, then freezing your credit is a free way to guard against identity theft. It also cuts down on unwanted junk mail and unsolicited "you have already been approved" credit card offers, since "freezing" also blocks the bureaus from selling your address and credit score to third parties. My credit has been frozen for about 12 years now and I "thawed" it just once for a 3-day period when I changed cell companies. I see very little reason not to have it frozen. It is a tiny, tiny inconvenience to occasionally "thaw" reporting for a brief period when needed.

[Debbie C]

Hi vdub,yea those are the 3 I was trying to think of. I never new you could freeze your credit reporting.Do you just call those companies and tell them to do it. That's a great idea. I am ALWAYS getting those preapproved credit card thing in the mail. I'll have to check into it.And it's easy to unfreeze ?
How was your trip to Tahiti ? I wish I could go back there one day,but I keep getting the wrong lotto # !!!

[vdub]

Do you just call those companies and tell them to do it?

No.... That's one of the big complaints about those 3 companies. You get menus and recordings, but you never get to talk to anyone. That's one of the reasons ID theft is so difficult to deal with. I have seen ads recently, where one of the credit bureaus was saying they had real people to talk to. Kind of bad when you have to advertise stuff like that.

Anyway, credit freezing varies from state-to-state. We in Washington were blessed to have a visionary attorney general 8 years ago who forced the credit bureaus to allow WA residents to be able to freeze credit reporting. And, he went one step further and forced the CB's to let residents do a freeze free and via the internet (at least, it was free 10 years ago). We are blessed. CA and some other states quickly followed.

You're from Ohio. Looks like this url will work for you. But, it doesn't look like Ohio makes it easy or free -- still, its well worth the effort. The best way to deal with the CB's is to use certified mail. They seriously don't like it when people freeze their credit reporting since they make a lot of money from selling your credit score and address. Good luck!

[Debbie C]

Thanks for the info,I'll look into it after the holidays