A Claycord resident reported receiving a suspicious phone call this week that appeared on caller ID as “Kaiser Permanente.” When the resident answered, the caller immediately said, “Mom, I’ve had an accident.” Confused, the resident replied, “What?” The caller repeated the same line: “Mom, I’ve had an accident.” Sensing something was wrong, the resident asked, “What is your name?” At that point, the scammer hung up the phone without saying anything further. This type of scheme is often referred to as an “imposter scam.” Criminals try to trick people into believing a loved one has been hurt or is in trouble, hoping to scare victims into sending money or giving up personal information.
How to Protect Yourself
- Don’t trust caller ID: Scammers can “spoof” numbers to make it look like the call is from a legitimate organization such as Kaiser.
- If you receive a call like this, hang up and try to contact the family member directly at their known number.
- Never give out personal or financial information to unknown callers.
- Report suspicious calls to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and, if the caller ID impersonates a healthcare provider, to that provider’s fraud department.
- Stay alert and share this warning with friends and family—scammers are always looking for new ways to exploit fear and urgency.
Yeah I can’t see that working very often.
But people are gullible I guess.
I don’t know how they can get their phones to read out falsely as some other entity In this case as Kaiser. I’ve received fraud calls that showed as IRS on the caller ID. I became suspicious when the woman had a very heavy un-educated sounding foreign accent. I told her that I had to run to the bathroom in an emergency and to call me right back. She never did. I’m sure the IRS would have.cant the phone company crack down on these phony IDs?
Scammers use technology. It’s scary.
I’ve been getting (Spam) calls on my cell phone and house phone from “Tax Resolution Services” at least 3 times a day for over 2 weeks now !?! Always from 5 or 10 different numbers. They always leave a voice message to call them back to resolve some (phony) tax errors I owe. I never answer the calls and always “Block” the recent number; but to no avail, but they just keep calling from different numbers. Am I the only one??? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!!
There is a service called NOMOROBO.
http://www.nomorobo.com
Do people just answer every call they get? If I don’t know the number I don’t answer. If it’s important they can leave me a voice mail and I can then decide if I want to call back or just ignore it.
This very same thing happened to my 84 yr old Father, not once but twice.
The first time, the caller said she was calling on behalf of my niece who supposedly hit a pregnant woman in her car, and both my niece and the woman were in the hospital.
Then last week my Father called me asking if I was ok, the same caller had the same story, this time it was supposedly me.
It makes my blood boil when people pray on the elderly, I’d love to catch these bastards, although they are most likely in India or Pakistan, according to the police and the news.
I told my parents to stop and think, before they said or did anything stupid. Get the number of the hospital by googling it, and call the hospital or police directly by themselves.
And stop answering the phone unless they know the caller.
These scammers suck, a few months ago my wife got a call from Patelco credit card fraud division, I googled the number while she was on the phone, the number was correct. I heard the questions they were asking my wife, I walked up and grabbed her phone and hung up. I then called Patelco’s C.C. fraud number and asked them if they called…Nope, then they told us they would never ask the questions that the scammers asked my wife, I’m glad I was home, I think my wife would’ve fallen for it, seeing that it was Patelco’s phone number calling.
I’ve also had my own cell number call me on my cell, never answer calls like that, thank God I knew better.
These scammers are pretty slick, be careful, people.
My elderly mother received this same message today. She did not fall for it, as she has been well coached! She has received troubling calls before. Targeting the elderly is so evil.