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Yesterday afternoon, the Idaho Attorney General's office sent out an alert that's worth reading before you pick up your phone again today. They've been flooded this month with calls from seniors who handed over their Medicare number, Social Security number, and date of birth to someone they thought was Medicare itself.

It was not Medicare. By the time the real call came in from their bank, the money was already gone.

The reason this one is working, and the reason I'm writing about it instead of the dozen other things that hit the news this week, is that the script is very good.

The caller is calm and professional. The number on your phone shows your own area code. And they have a specific reason for calling: your Medicare card has expired and needs to be reissued. Or your eligibility for the new $2,100 yearly cap on drug costs needs to be "activated" before the savings kick in. Or there's a discrepancy on your file they need to verify quickly.

None of it is real.

Here's what's actually happening. Scammers are using software that lets them put any phone number on your screen. Yours, your bank's, the local sheriff's office. They read from scripts that have been tested on hundreds of thousands of older Americans before they ever called you. They know what questions to expect, and they know how to sound official. And they ask for three pieces of information that, taken together, are everything they need to drain your accounts: your Medicare number, your Social Security number, and your date of birth.

Once they have those three things, they don't have to touch your phone or your computer. They open a new account in your name. They file a tax return in your name. They apply for credit in your name. Some of them sell your information to other people who do all of the above.

The thing to remember, and the thing to write down somewhere you can see it: Medicare does not call you. Not for verification, not for card renewal, not for cap activation, not ever. The $2,100 cap on out-of-pocket drug costs is automatic and DOES NOT require a phone call. If anyone tells you otherwise, they are lying to you.

If you've already given out any of this information, that is not a reason to feel embarrassed. It's a reason to move quickly.

1. If your phone rings and you don't recognize the number, let it go to voicemail. Real callers leave a message. Scammers usually don't.

2. If you do answer and the person says they're from Medicare, hang up. Don't be polite. Don't ask questions. Hang up.

3. Call 1-800-MEDICARE directly, using a number you've looked up yourself, not a number a caller gave you.

4. If you've already shared your Medicare or Social Security number with someone who called you, report it at reportfraud.ftc.gov and freeze your credit at all three credit bureaus today.

Also this week:

Fake "I'm not a robot" boxes are installing malware now. The FTC put out a warning last week about a new version of the box you click to prove you're a real person on a website. The scam version says the check failed and asks you to press Windows-key + R, paste something in, and hit Enter. Do not ever do this. That sequence runs hidden software on your computer. Real "I'm not a robot" checks never ask you to type anything.

Pick a family code word this weekend. AI voice cloning calls, the kind where your grandchild "calls" in tears asking for bail money, have cost American families more than two billion dollars this year alone. The defense is one word your family agrees on in advance. If a panicked call ever comes in, ask for the code word. No code word, no money. Tell your grown children the word too.

Talk soon,

Tom
StayPatched

P.S. If you have a parent, an aunt, or a neighbor who answers every call that comes in, this is the email to forward. The Medicare script catches more people in the first three minutes than any tech support scam ever has. One forward might save someone you love a great deal of money.