Telephone scams targeting older Americans are nothing new, but a newer version hopes to get elderly people worried about their health care coverage.  The scammers hope that seniors will get scared and end up giving out their personal information.

The scam plays out something like this:  A "representative" calls the senior, claiming to be with the "Medicare Program Unit" or some other official-sounding health foundation.  The senior is told that he or she needs a new Medicare card, because the old one has expired or another reason that calls for urgency on the senior's part.

The important fact to remember is that Medicare cards do not expire.  Many people, however, are unaware of the facts.  If the caller is persuasive, that's when trusting seniors may end up sharing all kinds of personal information.

Experienced scammers may already know the name of the bank, or may guess which bank gets the beneficiary's social security check.  The next step is to convince the senior into revealing his or her bank account number.  The scammers do this through a series of misleading questions aimed at "verifying your information so you can keep your health coverage."  Once the scam artist gets the critical piece of information that he or she is after, that person will attack the senior's bank account and other resources.

Phone scams can be expected to increase during these tough economic times, and ripoff artists will continue coming up with new ways to get at your money.  Seniors are often targeted, because they are likely to have a nest egg, own their homes, and have established credit.  Con artists could go after any of those things.  Scammers also realize that it may take weeks or months before the senior realizes the scam has taken his or her money.

If you think someone is trying to scam you, let us know about it.  Send an email to share@wpsdlocal6.com