Posted on 04/29/2015 11:10:37 AM PDT by george76
A Colorado Springs mom is the latest target of a scam going after military families in Southern Colorado.
The scammers pretend to be with TRICARE to try to get victims' personal information.
11 News first learned about the scam earlier this year, but we keep hearing from more people in the community who are getting these calls.
Penni Schacherer lives in Colorado Springs, and says she was in the middle of homeschooling her son when her phone rang.
The caller claimed to be with TRICARE and offered her a special cream that relieves pain.
Schacherer tells 11 News she was so distracted, she doesn't remember what else he said. It all sounded suspicious to her, so she eventually hung up.
She says a lot of military families she knows are getting these calls.
"It's just not happening in Colorado Springs, it's happening everywhere--friends in North Carolina, Texas, overseas, everything," said Schacherer.
Schacherer tells 11 News she's actually upset with TRICARE about how they're handling the scam.
"I feel more violated by TRICARE because they didn't let me know this was going on. We need to be aware and they need to help us be aware," said Schacherer.
11 News reached out to TRICARE, and they confirmed this is a scam. They do have a warning about it posted on their website. We were told to get in touch with the people involved the fraud investigation to learn how they are notifying customers about the scam. We have not heard back from them yet.
If you get one of these calls, you can report it to TRICARE by calling the Express Scripts Fraud Tip Hotline at 1-866-759-6139.
I’d keel over if I ever got a call from Tricare....
I get calls from them. If they want some money.
Heh, they must know we don’t have any....
I think my mom has had this happen to her. I know she’s had a couple of scammers at least. I’ll have to mention it to her. One was trying to tell her he was her grandson. Thing is, she does have an adult grandson that she hadn’t heard from in years. She thought it was him. When she started asking him questions about his life, not suspecting it wasn’t him, he hung up.
TRICARE doesn’t call anyone. Ever. If “they” call, it’s a scam.
The only calls from TRICARE I have ever received are from the local base office to update or confirm appointments or return answers to questions.
If they catch me at home during the day when they call they won’t care for the reaction they get.
“Tricare” called me, asking for me by name, which is odd since I have been out for a LONG time. I told them I was dead. Their confusion was amusing. They asked for my son by name, and he is on active duty. I told them he died too. They asked when he died. I held the air rifle I had been sighting in right next to the phone, dry-fired, and said “just now”. They hung up on me. I’m not sure why.
About once or twice a year, I’ll get a call like that when I have a few minutes to kill, and it’s always great fun.
That is so funny! I think I’ll try that next time I get a call from a telemarketer.
you and me both. Been retired for 19 years, never got a phone call or a letter, letting me know how much they pay for my medical care. In a few years I get Tricare for life, can’t wait for that. But there are people that say Tricare picks up a lot of their medical costs, and there are those that call it Triscare, Nocare and Whocares.
This warning of scam calls is pretty funny as Tricare has never called me.
That said, we are in our early sixties so we have Tricare Standard and a supplement plan which we pay for out of picket so we can get the care we want. I had two knee replacements last year and no problem with coverage from either plan.....knock on wood.
Some in our family have been on Tricare for Life - husband is a Vietnam Nam vet - and have had to pay nothing...rightly so.
I know Obozo and his goons want to mess with it but so far, so good.
We get these calls. We hang up.
That’s great! My mind thinks of stuff after I hang up but nothing this funny.
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