Senior Citizens in the Middle Tennessee Area keep getting those annoying “robocalls” that they just know has to be a scam. The voice implies that somebody, a doctor or maybe their children, signed them up for a medical alert system.
It’s all free, the recording implies, “And everything is ready to be sent to your home.” But WGNS' Robert Rickman says...
VERBATIM:
Consumers report if you call the number back, it says it's not in service.
The Better Business Bureau has received numerous complaints and inquiries concerning the calls in the past several weeks. What sounds like a free service can leave someone on a fixed income with a big bill, if they fall for the phony pitch.
If seniors do agree to the system in some cases it can cost $35 a month or more for monitoring. This could also be a way for con artists to get hold of bank or credit card information or even a Social Security number to use later in ID theft.
TAG:
Recently, the Medical Alarm Monitoring Association (MAMA) issued a consumer alert stating:
• The Medical Alarm Monitoring Association (MAMA) has recently learned of widespread illegal and fraudulent telemarketing including calls using recorded messages (commonly referred to as “robo-calling”) targeting senior citizens in the U.S. and Canada offering personal emergency response services.
• Medical Alarm Monitoring Association and its members are currently actively investigating this issue, and will contact consumer protection organizations to report all deceptive activity.
• If you or a loved one receives a telephone call playing a recorded message or that seems deceptive, do not provide credit card or bank information and request contact information from the caller. If you are a customer using monitoring services provided by any medical alert company and receive such a call, please hang up and contact your service provider to report the activity. Additionally, you may contact MAMA at 1-866-388-8618.
Source:
Partner Station WMSR