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Laguna Hills senior center director warns of scam calls using her name

June 25, 2023

The director of the Florence Sylvester Senior Center in Laguna Hills is warning seniors about a fraudulent phone call in which the caller uses her name and position to sell Medicare plans.

Director Aimee Roberts sent out an email to around 1,000 people on the center’s email list.

“I wanted to reach out to you personally to let you know I would never call you, nor would any Age Well staff or volunteer call you and ask for any personal information or engage with you to discuss your Medicare choices,” Roberts wrote in the email. Age Well is the company that runs the senior center, at 23721 Moulton Parkway.

The calls make it sound as if “I’m moonlighting as a Medicare agent trying to get them to change their plans,” Roberts said in a phone interview June 9. She added that the caller mispronounces her first name by putting the emphasis on the first syllable.

“If you do receive any calls of this nature, please ask for the number to return their call and call me directly at 949-380-0155 ext. 21. Or if you prefer not to engage at all, please hang up,” Roberts told seniors in the email.

“People feel impolite to just hang up on someone, and that’s exactly what they need to do,” Roberts said later.

The calls came to light when a woman told Roberts that she had received three such calls, even though she hung up each time. The woman wrote down all three numbers, and Roberts called each one. One of the calls went straight to a music loop, and the other two were disconnected numbers.

“I take this very, very seriously, because who knows how many people got these calls” using her name, Roberts said.

Roberts said she called the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and a deputy dropped by the senior center and took down the numbers.

However, she was told that there was not much the department could do about the phone calls unless a crime happened, or the caller went to the person’s home. The calls are virtually untraceable, probably coming from Florida or Baja, and spoofing local numbers.

The scam calls can be harmful to those who get them as well as to herself, with the potential to destroy her integrity and credibility, Roberts said.

“The first thing is, I don’t want anyone to fall for it. And using my name is such a deceitful thing to do,” she said.

“People respect what I say, and they’re not worried that I would give them bad information,” she said. “At the end of the day, that’s all I have – my name and the characteristics associated with my name. It’s upsetting.”

Roberts is working with the Sheriff’s Department, the Council on Aging, community partners and local experts to bring a presentation to the senior center on all kinds of fraud and scams, and how to identify them and avoid becoming a victim.

Meanwhile, she reminded seniors in the email: “We do everything we can to protect you and vet all partnerships we associate with very carefully. We do not give out your contact information. Please do not give out your information directly to anyone who may say they are representing Age Well.”

Orange County Register

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Laguna Hills senior center director warns of scam calls using her name

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