US Life Care and internet non-private information
Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2013 11:49 pm
I'm posting this because my mother, a senior citizen and a widow, was the target of an apparent telephone scam artist today. She fortunately has not been the recipient of many such calls (at least that's what caller ID indicates), but being an elderly lady with a failing short-term memory, she is the type of person likely to fall victim to a telephone scammer without realizing it.
The caller was someone pitching identity protection services for seniors. The caller ID read "USLIFECARE" and the phone number displayed was from the 214 area code, which is Dallas, TX. I answered the phone, listened to the first part of the sales pitch, interrupted the caller to inform him that the number he called was on the Do Not Call List, and asked whether his company had a business relationship with us. He hung up immediately without answering.
A quick web search indicates that US Life Care may be a legitimate company, or it may not. Nowhere on their website do I find an address or other identifying information normally shown by legitimate companies. The only contact information given is an 888 number and a fill-in-the-blanks window for requesting information.
Even if US Life Care is a legitimate company, a scum-sucking scam artist may have hijacked their name and number for caller ID spoofing. US Life Care's website doesn't advertise identity protection service, which is what the caller was pitching. US Life Care sells medical alert monitoring devices, like the ones advertised by the lady on the bathroom floor crying "help I've fallen and I can't get up."
I've written the company name and number on a post-it next to her phone, with instructions to mom to not give the caller any information. That's about all I can do for her.
Mom asked how the caller could have gotten her phone number and known she was a senior citizen, expecially because she is so careful to shred every bit of mail which reveals her name and address. I did a quick web search and, in less than 3 minutes, showed her a variety of websites which revealed her full name and age, my father's full name and the age he would be if he was still alive, her address, phone number, the value of her home, her neighbors' names and phone numbers, photos of her house (aerial and street level view), her children's names and ages, their spouses' names and ages... And that's just the stuff available for free. I didn't even try looking at any of the website selling personal information.
The world has changed. Nothing is private any more. If I can find all that information with a few clumsy keystrokes, I know the scammers can harvest it by the boatload with their sophisticated scambots, then use it to selectively target the vulnerable.
I just wish I could do something about it. Viva la libertad! Just watch out for your wallet, and your dear old mother's wallet, too.
The caller was someone pitching identity protection services for seniors. The caller ID read "USLIFECARE" and the phone number displayed was from the 214 area code, which is Dallas, TX. I answered the phone, listened to the first part of the sales pitch, interrupted the caller to inform him that the number he called was on the Do Not Call List, and asked whether his company had a business relationship with us. He hung up immediately without answering.
A quick web search indicates that US Life Care may be a legitimate company, or it may not. Nowhere on their website do I find an address or other identifying information normally shown by legitimate companies. The only contact information given is an 888 number and a fill-in-the-blanks window for requesting information.
Even if US Life Care is a legitimate company, a scum-sucking scam artist may have hijacked their name and number for caller ID spoofing. US Life Care's website doesn't advertise identity protection service, which is what the caller was pitching. US Life Care sells medical alert monitoring devices, like the ones advertised by the lady on the bathroom floor crying "help I've fallen and I can't get up."
I've written the company name and number on a post-it next to her phone, with instructions to mom to not give the caller any information. That's about all I can do for her.
Mom asked how the caller could have gotten her phone number and known she was a senior citizen, expecially because she is so careful to shred every bit of mail which reveals her name and address. I did a quick web search and, in less than 3 minutes, showed her a variety of websites which revealed her full name and age, my father's full name and the age he would be if he was still alive, her address, phone number, the value of her home, her neighbors' names and phone numbers, photos of her house (aerial and street level view), her children's names and ages, their spouses' names and ages... And that's just the stuff available for free. I didn't even try looking at any of the website selling personal information.
The world has changed. Nothing is private any more. If I can find all that information with a few clumsy keystrokes, I know the scammers can harvest it by the boatload with their sophisticated scambots, then use it to selectively target the vulnerable.
I just wish I could do something about it. Viva la libertad! Just watch out for your wallet, and your dear old mother's wallet, too.