topic Re: Possible scam? in Community Chat

Possible scam?

depglass — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 16:47:44 GMT

A male friend got a phone call from the local hospital telling him he owed 25.00 from two years ago and they would take a credit card to clear it up. With our hospital, this wouldn't be out of the question, their billing is a mess. So friend got huffy, marched down to the billing office and found out he owed nothing. I'm thinking this was just a scam by someone to get his credit card info.

Re: Possible scam?

NicksmomESQ — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 16:50:23 GMT

Sounds like a scam.These days you have to be super careful & trust no one!!

Re: Possible scam?

qbetzforreal — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 17:00:21 GMT

Total scam. Businesses send bills for monies owed. They'll send many bills and turn it over to a collection agency who may call. Glad your friend didn't give his credit card number.

Re: Possible scam?

Spurt — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 17:28:48 GMT

@depglass wrote:
A male friend got a phone call from the local hospital telling him he owed 25.00 from two years ago and they would take a credit card to clear it up. With our hospital, this wouldn't be out of the question, their billing is a mess. So friend got huffy, marched down to the billing office and found out he owed nothing. I'm thinking this was just a scam by someone to get his credit card info.

@depglass

Whenever you or anyone gets a call like this ...tell them you cant talk right now, then hang up and go to the secure website, find a phone number there, call them and verify if the info is correct!

Even if they they calling from a reputable company or a charity NEVER give credit card or ANY personal info to anyone calling YOU!!!--It could be a scam and these scammers are getting more and more clever!!! Dont trust anyone!

Re: Possible scam?

PhilaLady1 — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 17:15:00 GMT

You are exactly correct - a SCAM ! What they do is, they start with a low amount. Its not like they are saying pay up thousands of dollars asap. The scammer is hoping that you would be more likely to fork up $25.00 than a larger amount. Once they get your personal information, though, you would be in big trouble.

Re: Possible scam?

Nightowlz — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 17:36:57 GMT

Never give out any of your personal information over the phone when someone calls you. You need to hang up & call the place back direct yourself.

All this guy had to do was hang up to call the hospital to find out if he had any outstanding bills.

If he did owe bills that were 2 yrs old it would not have been the hospital calling. They would have already turned it over to collections.

Re: Possible scam?

Trix — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 17:51:40 GMT

@Nightowlz wrote:
Never give out any of your personal information over the phone when someone calls you. You need to hang up & call the place back direct yourself.
All this guy had to do was hang up to call the hospital to find out if he had any outstanding bills.
If he did owe bills that were 2 yrs old it would not have been the hospital calling. They would have already turned it over to collections.

@NightowlzEven if the call is from a collection agency stating they are representing a business (hospital or other) one has owed money to; or presently owes money to, it's not recommended to pay by phone. I would hang up on anyone calling me and asking me to pay a bill by phone.

A hospital can verify whether or not there is indeed any remaining balance on an old bill and that it has been sent to collections, but even with that info I still would not send money to the collections agency. Between insurance payments, co-payments, etc. it's not uncommon for folks to lose track of a few dollars which may remain on a hospital bill. I would apologize to the hospital billing department for the oversight and send the payment directly to the hospital, leaving it to them to halt to their third party collector from making any further contact with me.

Re: Possible scam?

Carmie — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 19:19:23 GMT

I mentioned this scam a few months ago. In my area, some thieves are so bold as to have even sent out authentic looking bills with the hospitals name and even included a return envelope. When you call the CS number shown to question the bill, someone answers and tells you you can pay by cc and takes your info.

Our local news station showed a copy of the bill somone got. It was really authentic looking. I wonder how many people got scammed.

Re: Possible scam?

chrystaltree — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 19:49:15 GMT

Sounds like a scam. Two years is a long time to try to collect $25, even if it was true,most hospitals would just write it off becaue it costs more them more than $25 to try to collect $25.

Re: Possible scam?

Nightowlz — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 21:37:21 GMT

@Trix wrote:
@Nightowlz wrote:
Never give out any of your personal information over the phone when someone calls you. You need to hang up & call the place back direct yourself.
All this guy had to do was hang up to call the hospital to find out if he had any outstanding bills.
If he did owe bills that were 2 yrs old it would not have been the hospital calling. They would have already turned it over to collections.

@NightowlzEven if the call is from a collection agency stating they are representing a business (hospital or other) one has owed money to; or presently owes money to, it's not recommended to pay by phone. I would hang up on anyone calling me and asking me to pay a bill by phone.

A hospital can verify whether or not there is indeed any remaining balance on an old bill and that it has been sent to collections, but even with that info I still would not send money to the collections agency. Between insurance payments, co-payments, etc. it's not uncommon for folks to lose track of a few dollars which may remain on a hospital bill. I would apologize to the hospital billing department for the oversight and send the payment directly to the hospital, leaving it to them to halt to their third party collector from making any further contact with me.

@Trix

I really don't know how any of it works since I have never been turned over for collections.

I know how much money I owe & to who. I don't have any debt so it's easy to keep track of. Would not do anybody any good to call me & say I owe them money. LOL!!!

I only give my credit card info to someone I'm calling but never to anyone that calls me. I'm no dummy.

Re: Possible scam?

viva923 — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 22:08:56 GMT

had something like this happen to me several years ago. got a call from the hospital cancer building asking for funding for new addition. credit card only accepted. just something wasn't right. i took all her info down, asked if I could call her back, she agreed (I told her I had to find my card and would need sometime to locate it). hung up.

I contacted the cancer building at the hospital and asked if they wanted money for new addition. They were shocked because NO addition was being planned. I gave them the info the gal gave to me, they said they would handle it.

Never heard from them again, so maybe they got who was posing as an agent for this cancer building.

Re: Possible scam?

ShowMe — Fri, 16 Nov 2018 22:04:35 GMT

A few minutes ago I posted on the newer thread about Scams......

A short while ago I was snoozing and the phone rang. It woke me up, but I didn't answer it. I've gotten to the point where I don't answer unless it is someone I know. My CID said it was ********'s Hospital. Well that is the hospital where all my doctors are affiliated with, but it's not the name of it anymore. Some time ago they were bought out by a major hospital here and the name has changed, as well as the name on CID. Since this change over I've had calls from them reminding me of appointments and when I didn't answer they left a legit message.

These folks are getting smart.....so they think...... The phone number appeared with my area code and first 3 digits of my phone.....the the last 4 digits were fake.

By the way, collection agencies will go to any extreme to get to you. Had a friend that owed quite a bit of money....and her account was turned over to a collection agency. The agency called her neighbors to get a message to her. That was really going beyond what they should be doing. She was very humiliated because that was her personal information and then her neighbors knew she owed a bundle of money.

Re: Possible scam?

Drythe — Fri, 16 Nov 2018 22:15:26 GMT

This is getting so common. If the scammers would put as much energy into something else financially productive, they would be wealthy.

With such calls I ask for a number to call them back - CLICK goes the phone.

Re: Possible scam?

bonnielu — Fri, 16 Nov 2018 23:41:07 GMT

Not going to get better unless THEY do something. So much for the DO NOT Call List... a real joke these days.

Best advice when anyone emails you or calls you ... you need to call the original number or email the original email and ask about the call or email. We had a friend who took 6 months and a team of lawyers to free his accouints and his good name because he was trusting and not aware.