West Plains, MO – Last week, Ozark Radio News reported on a Caller ID Spoofing scam involving Texas County Memorial Hospital. We have received reports from locals in Howell County that the scam is now spoofing Ozarks Healthcare and Cox Hospitals phone numbers.
A 71-year-old Howell County woman reported that she had received a call on September 6 and 7 from Caller ID numbers reading Ozarks Healthcare and Cox South Hospital in Springfield. The woman reported that the caller spoke quickly, asking for Medicaid numbers and, in return, he would send an item for lower back pain. The woman was shocked by a call like this during the Labor Day holiday as she believed most call centers took that day off. Tuesday, she had received another call from a different medical center but with the same speaker. The caller said he had spoke with a family member and was returning a call. Due to her familiarity with medical professionals, she had recognized this caller as a scammer.
Both of these calls are scams. Caller ID Spoofing happens when a computer program is used to disguise one phone number as a different number and these kinds of scams are on the rise. If you have had one of these scammers call you, contact your local law enforcement agency and the Better Business Bureau.
You can contact the BBB by phone at 417-862-4222 or submit a report online at https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker
