Older people are bombarded nowadays with calls claiming to be from the local medical centers.

The scammers pretend to either confirm the continuation of the “annual coverage” with the senior, ask the patient to make a payment that didn’t go through a last time, or to let him know about a new mandatory prescription that the elderly need to get.

In all cases, the scammers exploit the health concerns of the victims and ask for confirmation of their Medicare number and their credit card details.

How to avoid: warn your parents and grandparents of this in advance and advise them to tell the callers they’ll call them back. That way they can ring off straight away.