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Mom gets a threatening phone call

Several other residents of her retirement community got similar calls.

DEAR HARRY: My mother lives in a suburban retirement community. Last week, she got a call from someone who said she was from Medicare, and under the new Affordable Care Act was requesting verification of information. She said that failure to cooperate was punishable by a fine or imprisonment. Mom hung up immediately and called me to see if this was "kosher." I called both Social Security and my congressman and was assured that this was a scam. The next morning, my mother got another call warning her of a jail term for refusal, so she decided to listen to the pitch. She was asked her date of birth and her SS number. At that point she responded that she would verify information, but not give any new information. The woman on the other end of the line said she would put mother's name in for prosecution. I told her to forget about it. Since then, she has told me of several other residents of her community who got similar calls. How can older people tell if these calls are legit?

WHAT HARRY SAYS: In some cases, it becomes a Herculean task! The first rule is: Never give info on the phone. Insist on a written letter. Once you have the letter, you can contact directly the people who are supposed to be the sponsors, or contact one of the honchos at the community for verification. Guard your SS number and your date of birth zealously. Send money only to charities that you recognize, not to any that just sound good.

Email Harry Gross at harrygrossDN@gmail.com, or

write to him at Daily News, 801 Market St., Philadelphia, PA 19107.

Harry urges all his readers to give blood. Contact the American Red Cross at 1-800-Red Cross.