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Madigan warns residents about medical alert service scam
Complaints to
attorney general's office report unsolicited calls seeking
individuals' financial information
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[June
12, 2013]
SPRINGFIELD -- Attorney General
Madigan is alerting Illinois residents to be wary of unsolicited
calls advertising purported free medical alert services. Following
an uptick in complaints reported to her office, Madigan said call
recipients should ignore the solicitation and not provide any
personal information to the caller.
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In recent weeks, Madigan's office has received "a number of calls"
from concerned Illinois residents, reporting solicitations for "Medi
Alert" or other medical alert services, which many seniors use in
case of emergencies to call for help. Some of the prerecorded
messages indicate that the individual is eligible for a free medical
alert system. In other instances, consumers reported that the
message indicates that a family member has ordered a medical alert
system and more information is needed to process the order. A third
reported variation of the message says the business has received the
system and wants to deliver the product.
People who complained to Madigan's office said that if the call
recipient presses "1" to talk to someone, they then are asked to
provide personal financial information, such as a credit card number
or a bank routing number, to pay the monthly service fee associated
with the medical alert service -- even though the medical alert
service was never ordered.
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 "When you're asked to provide personal financial information for
a product you haven't ordered, that's a sure sign of a scam,"
Madigan said. "Anyone who receives these calls should not provide
their personal information, and they should hang up immediately."
Madigan noted that Illinois residents who receive these calls
should report them to her office and provide as much information as
possible, including any information the caller conveys and the
number they ask you to call in response to the inquiry.
[Text from file received from the office
of
Illinois Attorney General Lisa
Madigan] |
