Scammers Looking To Take Your Senior Benefits

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0:48 To a scam. Let's talk about scams. It's the must listen show for anyone who wants to protect themselves and their loved ones from scams. Every Tuesday am Pacific time on K four HD Radio, Joyce Petrowski, founder of Rose, and her guests will provide valuable insights and practical tips on how to recognize and protect yourself from scams. And now here is your host, Joyce Petrowski. Welcome back everyone to let's talk about scams. I'm Joyce Petrowski, founder and board president of Rose Resources Outreach to safeguard the elderly. You can find more information on our website at Roseadvocacy dot org. You'll find our events listed there.

1:36 You can schedule are schedule a presentation tab. You'll also find our social media links there at the top of the homepage, and if you scroll down to the bottom, you can see where you can sign up for our emailed newsletter and we also send one out in the mail. You can sign up for one or both, and you can also download our safety checklist as well. So today I want to talk about senior benefits that scammers are always looking to. Take from us. Unfortunately, I found an article that was written just a couple of days ago by Katie Willis. It's on through WSM on the MSN site and it's titled Senior Benefits Fraud is up sharply in twenty twenty six and this all deals with government scams. So the Social Security and Medicare are two of the top ones that scammers will impersonate do government imposter scams targeting people on Medicare and Social Security. The government impersonation complaints to the Federal Trade Commission rose twenty five percent in twenty twenty five. I believe that's taken from the fiscal year ending June of

3:09 two thousand and twenty five to there were more than three hundred and thirty thousand complaints, with the Social Security Office being the most impersonated federal agency. And remember these stats that I'm going to give you today from this article or from the Federal Trade Commission. I know we always take our stats from the FBI, but you can report to the Federal Trade Commission as well, and that's where these stats today are coming from. So let's get into a few of them. But just keep in mind that the government personation scams, yes, they go out to millions of people, but through a variety of different ways scammers figure out your information. So the first one we're going to talk about is Medicare card phishing call. So just know that, for instance, like if a health insurance or not specifically health insurance, but a health related company were to get hacked or breached, how much of your medical information then could be out there being sold to scammers And now they can use that information to have even more targeted calls towards you. So the Medicare card phishing call, So the script usually goes like this. The caller tells you that Medicare is issuing updated cards with new security features. Yeah, that doesn't seem too far fetched, right,

4:46 there are certain instances where Medicare would issue new cards. And with all of the fraudulent activity going on in a wide variety of areas today and all the scams, a lot of companies are increasing their security features, so why wouldn't you know government offices do the same, So this isn't far fetched. But they're saying you need to verify your identity before years can be mailed, and so you know, they want you to give your data, birth, your SOLF security, your Medicare, you know, identify your number, a bunch of different things, just to confirm that it is you that we're actually talking to. Sometimes the scammer's going to say your current card has been compromised and a replacement card is being processed. Again, they need to verify you with this personal identifiable information. So, as of the writing of this article a few days ago, there are no plans to issue new Medicare cards to all members.

5:50 This year, you'll get a new card if you ask for a new card. For instance, maybe you lost yours and you've requested a replacement card. Or if someone is committed fraud using your name in Medicare information and you've reported it, then they're going to issue you a new card, but they don't call you to verify your identity before mailing anything. Medicare does not do that. And what damage can be done? You know, if a scammer gets your Medicare number and we always tell people your Medicare number is personal identifiable information, well they can build Medicare for fake surgeries, prescriptions, medical equipment, doctor's visits, all kinds of things in your name in Medicare number.

6:44 And yet it. Drains the system because it's fraudulent charges. But it also can have a major effect on your medical records that might affect something down the road, and you might not find out for months until you get your explanation of benefits. And that's if you then. Look at your explanation of benefits. Some people just get them. They know what it is, and they just open it and they're like, Okay, I know what it is. You know, I'm going to just file it away and they don't even look at it. But this is another reason why you should always look at your explanation of benefits and make sure that the charges that are on there are actually yours. And if they're not, you want to go directly to Medicare, the one eight hundred Medicare and call them and report that there's been fraudulent activity on your account.

7:38 And you also, you know, say you get that phishing phone call saying that they're from Medicare, just because the caller ID shows up Medicare or shows up one eight hundred Medicare on your phone, that does not mean it's actually Medicares. Scammers have been able to spoof caller ID for years and now they're able to spoof the phone number as well to make it all the more legitimates. So don't answer. You can if you have an online account with Medicare, you can go on and you can check things out that way. You can call Medicare yourself.

8:19 Just pull your card out the phone numbers right there and call the phone number on there. And yes you are. You know, you're going to have to give them your information to verify yourself, but then they can tell you what's going on. But the other thing is, this is why it's always good to have a Medicare agent, because you can then always talk to your Medicare agent. They know, you know, not only the new. Policies that come out, the new plans that come out, any changes that are made. Medicare agents are required to learn all of this stuff every year, and they're in the process us of learning, probably learning it right now or soon, you know, I'm not exactly sure when they get all this information, but they will have all of it and they will know all of the new plans and the changes by the time annual enrollment comes up in October, which I believe it's October fifteenth to December seventh. Now, yes, you you know, can call them, and you know because you might have friends or family say hey, I got this new plan and I'm saving all this money.

9:28 You should change. Please don't change just because someone told you that it's the greatest thing since slice spread. Just always talk to your agent. They know your situation, they know your health history, and they are the ones that are going to be able to tell you whether that new plan or what changes in a plan are going to actually work for you. So you know don't have a Medicare agent. Talk to your friends and family and find out who they use and who they trust, and then talk to that to agent. So just know that Medicare does not issue new Medicare cards on a whim. If you've requested a new one, then they'll a replacement one.

10:09 They'll send it to you. If there's been medical a fraud on your account, then they'll send you a new Medicare card. But they're not going to call you and ask you to verify your information in order to get your new card. Another scam, the government scam that has increased a lot, is the Social Security And every year we have what's called it's COLA for shorts coo LA, it's the cost of living adjustment and this one is called the fake cost of living activation message. So every year Social Security announces its annual cost of living adjustment and when that comes out, scammers are going to build those campaigns within days.

10:56 There. You know, you get a text message, you get an email, You very well could get a fake letter in the mail. I know they don't do. So much in the mail these days, but I wouldn't put it past them. You know, they could send you that email with a fake Social Security letter attached to that, you know, copying their logo from the real Soil Security website. They probably already have fake Social Security websites. Is where these links are going to take you. So they're going to want you. To log in to confirm your account to receive the increase. Again, Social Security is not going to ask you to log into your account to confirm the increase.

11:40 It's automatic. They have their process that they go through, they have some software that they use. It's automatically calculated, and they send you a letter in the mail telling you what your new what your cost of living adjustment is, and what your new Soil Security monthly benefit is going to be. So they. Let's see what else it. They also could have information, you know, like your doctor's name and stuff like that because they, uh, they get it from healthcare breaches like we talked about before. So the Social Security Office of Inspector General has warned explicitly that criminals are sending fake text and emails directing people to fake Social Security websites because they're trying to harvest your personal and financial information.

12:41 Just know that Social Security is not going to text or email you links to click. On and they're not going to call you. If you want to know what your cost of living increases, and you have your online accounts set up with Social Security, go to the Social Security website the s SA for Social Security Administration dot gov and that dot gov is a government office and get into your account that way, and it will have your cost of living adjustment and you can check things out. It's going to have all your information about your Social Security in that account. Another one that they reference that's gone up substantially is impersonating the Social Security office with a phone call, and this one has.

13:28 Produced the highest losses per. Victim, and that's because this is where your emotions are in. They get you in a state of fear right away. They combine the fear with the urgency, which makes it more difficult to think through, to think calmly through the situation. So you could have a live person. When if you answer the phone call and it's this fake Social Security impersonation call, it could be an actual person or it could be recorded message. But basically what they're saying is that your Social Security number has been linked to fraudulent criminal activity. Well, that's going to scare people right away.

14:11 Right. Fraudulent, yes, but then adding criminal to it that scares people, right. They might say it could be drug trafficking, money laundering, whatever they come up with. But they say your Social Security number has been suspended and there's a warrant out for your arrest. That adds to the fear that they're trying to instill in you, so you don't think calmly and rationally about the situation. But they have a way out of this mess. If you cooperate, immediately provide the information they ask, or make a payment, it will resolve the matter before they send out law enforcement. So just know that you know social Security numbers cannot be suspended.

14:59 They won't just automatically suspend your number. They will not threaten legal action if you don't pay, say that they need money to activate a benefit, pressure you to share sensitive information, contact you through social media, or demand that you keep the conversation secret. They will not do any of that if it is the legitimate government communication. And again what we've said before, the government sends their communication via letters in the mail. The financial damage from this scam, according to the FTC in twenty twenty four, they received over eighty two hundred reports from adults sixty years old and older who said they lost at least ten thousand dollars to this imposter scam. It's up three hundred and sixty two percent from twenty twenty, and those reported losses hit seven hundred million that year, which is more than a fivefold increase from twenty twenty. So this is a huge one that's out there. But just know that Social Security Office is not going to just unexpectedly call you and you threaten legal action and scare you that your Social Security has been suspended and all that stuff. Some unfortunately, some sixty plus year old victims actually emptied their retirement accounts.

16:30 Some of them lost their homes. So this scam is extremely effective and you need to be aware of it. If you have any communication about your Social security you have an online account, log in to the legitimate website. Log into your account and check things out there, and if you do need to contact Social Security, your account in the legitimate website is going to have the Social Securities phone number for you to call. Let's see you know we've this. If you do happen to engage with any of these scams, just stop the contact.

17:11 It does it if you're talking to UH. If you happen to answer the phone and you're talking to them on the phone, just know it's okay to hang up, just end of the conversation. If you must do it politely and the conversation politely, then just say something came up, I've got to go and hang up, or just hang up. It's okay to just hang up. You know, if you're responding to a so called text, you know with saying that they're from one of these offices, just stop the contact, report that, report the text as spam before you delete it. You could even screenshot it because then you could call the Social Security Office, you could call Medicare and you could report it and you could give them a screenshot of the text messages, or you can send them, you know, a of the email that you received, or if they sent you maybe a letter in well, you don't want to open up the attachment, so let's not worry about that. But just stop the communication with them and report it. You can go directly to the Social Security Office and just log into your account.

18:19 They have a fraud hotline. You can get the phone number and column. You can also call Medicare at that one eight hundred medicare number. The best thing to do for identity theft if you think you might have been a victim of identity theft is the Federal Trade Commission has a specific Identity theft reporting where they can help you walk through the process of getting your identity back and they give you the paperwork that's needed in order to get in case there's fraudulent credit on your name. Let's see another government uh impersonation scam could be the i r S. It is tax season. There's a lot of I r S scams that go on out there, and if you have not already done so, please get your identity protection PIN with the I r S. The quickest way to do it is if you get on the i r S website i r S dot gov and UH just search Identity Protection PIN. It'll come up and you can request it online.

19:30 That is the quickest way to do it. You will have to set up an account and you will need to go through a verification process. It's called I d ME. So that's why you need to make sure you're on legitimate I r S website i r S dot gov. Again, that dot gov is the government office you go you could also they'll also have a they'll also give you the phone number that you can call the I R S and do it over the phone. But whether you do it online or you do it over the phone, you have to verify yourself and they will ask a lot of personal questions. But then once you go through the verification process, you're issued this six digit number. And if you've done it online and you have an account with the IRS, now you'll see it in your online account.

20:18 But they will also send you a letter in the mail with that number. It's good to have that even if you don't file taxes because it protects your account. You have the letter, you just put it away for safe keeping. But if you do file taxes, when you sign your tax return and then date it, right next to the date is where you're going to put that six digit code on your return. Because if you file your return and you have been issued that PIN number and you do not include it on your return, your return will not get accepted. So make sure you have it on your return where you sign, then date, and then there's this place to put that number, and then that letter goes away for safe keeping. That IP PIN number is personal confidential information, and then next year, the IRS is going to issue you a whole new six digit code. If you're ready to file your taxes and you don't have that number, you can log into your account and it should be updated and there to give you that new number. The only way that someone else other than you and your spouse that would file a joint return would And by the way, both spouses need their own separate number, So make sure both spouses get it if you're filing a joint return, because it affects either spouse social Security number is attached to the account, and I'll explain that in more detail here shortly. But

21:52 the only way anybody else should have the PIN number of your PIN number or your spouse's PIN number is if you use a tax prepare and they electronically file your tax return, They're going to need to have that number to put in when they electronically file your tax return. So that is the only way some third party would need that number. Now, getting back to why both spouses need it, I'm a perfect example of this. So about a year and a half ago, I was going through the mail and I got a letter and I could tell it was from the IRS, and My first thought was, Wow, this is weird. Normally, when we get communication from the IRS, it comes to both my husband and me, but this one came to just me and I opened it up and it was a letter stating that they had received a tax return in my name and sold security number, and they flagged it as possibly fraudulent so they had not processed it, and that if this was a fraudulent return, to please call. And they gave me the phone number and I did verify that that was the actual correct phone number with the IRS, so it wasn't like a fake letter that, you know, maybe a scammer would send out.

23:18 I verified that that phone number was accurate, and I called and I had to go through the verification process. And then once I did that and verified myself, I asked them, you know, well, how was that return filed? And excuse me, They wouldn't give me any information that was on that return other than it was in my name and my. Sole security number. So I just assumed that whoever filed that fraudulent return. Did it it was. Filed under something other than married filing jointly, because my husband and I have been filing that way for thirty years and that's probably why the IRS flagged it as possibly fraudulent because it came in as something different. That's what I assumed. They wouldn't give me any information on it.

24:08 But they said, all right, we are going to start working through the process to get this fraudulent return off of your account. And they said, by the way, when, And we had not filed our tax return yet, so they said, and I said, well, what do I do when I file my our legitimate tax return? And they said, well, you're going to be issued automatically issued this ip PIN, so you're going to want to put it. Make sure you have it on your tax return. See I didn't have to apply for it. I was a victim of tax related identity theft, so I was automatically issued it. Make sure it's on your return, and make sure your husband's is on you know, his ippin is on the return as well, and file it. But if you are getting a refund, you're not going to get your money until this root return it is off of your account or if you're taking that refund and saying credit well, and I said, okay, well how long is that going to take? And she said it could take up to I think it was like six hundred and thirty days or something like that, and I'm like, that's like two years, and she goes, that's up to how long it could take to get this fraudulent return off of your account.

25:25 And so I just gave it a few months and then I called, you know, the IRS, and nobody I think. I don't think anybody carves out two to four hours in their day to talk to the IRS. But you know, I called, and then you sit on hold, and then you finally get somebody. And it just so happened that when I was halfway through the process, I got disconnected. So then I had to call back again and sit on hold, going through the process again. I got disconnected again. And that was even after I said, please don't disc to me I was disconnected last time. They're like, oh, you know, no, we're not going to disconnect you. We got disconnected again. So I just gave up and let it go a few more months, and then I finally think it took about five or six months. It was finally that fraudulent return was finally off of our account.

26:17 But in the meantime, we had filed our legitimate return, and I said to the tax prepair. I said, you know, if we just don't refund any of the money, if we have an overpayment, just credit it to the next year, because it's going to it could take up to two years to get this refund. And so the tax prepairer did that, and then my husband got a letter in the mail and I got a letter in the mail from the IRS saying that the amount of the overpayment they could credit to the next year was zero, and that was because we still had that fraudulent return attached to our accounts. So your money doesn't just disappear. Your money's there, but it's not going to show as a refund or an overpayment credited to the next year until this fraudulent return is off of your account. And had the IRS process that fraudulent return, it probably would have taken at least a year or more for it to come off of my account. So and a lot more phone calls with the IRS and all of that, and it's frustrating. You just don't plan having to do that, you know, during your day, and it's very frustrating. So just please get the IP PIN number. You can do it online IRS dot gov. You can also they'll have a phone number there if you need to call them and just get it and know that you're going to get a new one every year. It's confidential, personal, confidential information.

27:49 So as I said before, the only additional person that would need to know it would be your tax prepare if they are filing an elect your return electronically. So just be aware of government and personation scams. Just because you get a text, a phone call, an email, don't necessarily believe it. You always have to verify on your own through legitimate channels. And just know that you know, Medicare is not going to automatically send new cards to everybody. Have your Medicare agent that can help you. And then Social Security they're not going to threaten arrests, they're not going to threaten you know, payment and all of that.

28:34 Just log onto your soil Security account and find out what's going on there. The cost of living adjustment is automatic. You shouldn't have to pay anybody to do not pay anybody when they say they can. If you just give me three hundred dollars, I can get you an increase in your cost of living adjustment. That's not the case. It's the government figures it out and they send you the information. So just know that a lot of scammers are out there impersonating the government, and just please be very very careful. That's all I have for you today. Next week, David Hawkins is going to be back. He was on last month. If you remember where we talked about past keys and how that biometric information works and passwords. Well, we're Our plan is to talk about artificial intelligence, and my hope is is that we're going to be able to show you some artificially manipulated videos to try to help you see the nuances in them, and maybe an actual voice recording that's not legitimate.

29:43 I don't know. We're putting it all together right now, So tune in next week to listen to what Dave has to say, and don't forget check our website at Roseadvocacy dot org. Social media links are there. You can check out our golf tournament event coming up on April tenth. Are looking for some more golfers. It's at Arizona Grand in Phoenix, Arizona, and we have an auction. We're looking for some auction donations and scroll down to the bottom of the homepage and you will see where you can sign up for our newsletter via email and or in the mail. So until next. Week, and happy Saint Patrick's Day. I almost forgot about that. It is Saint Patrick's Day.

30:24 Be careful if you're out there celebrating Saint Patrick's Day today, all right, take care. Well that's all the knowledge for this episode Julian every Tuesday at eight am Pacific time on KFOURHD Radio at KFOURHD dot com, as Joyce explores a variety of knowledge, so you have the power to make scam protection your healthy habit. And until then, feel free to reach out to Joyce and let's talk about scams.