It’s amazing how many phone calls I get from different agencies and groups:
The Drug Enforcement Administration – A car rented in your name was found with fentanyl in the trunk.
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department – There is a warrant for your arrest due to failure to show up for jury duty and/or as an expert witness.
Dr. Allan M. Block
Doctors Without Borders – We treated one of your patients while they were overseas and need payment for the supplies used.
The Arizona Medical Board – Your license has been suspended.
The Department of Health & Human Services – Your patient database has been posted on the dark web.
Of course, any of these problems can be fixed simply paying the caller a fee by credit card, Bitcoin, or purchasing gift cards and reading off the numbers to them.
Really.
As you’ve probably guessed, none of these calls are real, they’re just popular scams that have been circulating among doctors’ (and other) offices for the last several years. You may have gotten some of them yourself.
I’m sure the vast majority of us don’t fall for them, but the scammer on the other end doesn’t care.
And, realistically, that sucker could be any of us on a bad day. Timing is everything. If we’re frazzled by office events, or aware that the local medical board is looking into something, or have just been up all night at the hospital and are exhausted ... that’s when we’re most vulnerable, our razor’s edge is dull, our thought process slowed, and maybe at that moment we are just not as able to think clearly.
If I were younger I’d probably be more inclined to waste time messing around with them for the entertainment, trying to get them to give up on me after a while. But nowadays I have neither the time nor interest for that. In the rare cases that they make it past my secretary (which is pretty hard) I just hang up.
I’m not sure if it says more about us or them that this happens. I suppose doctors’ offices are the low-hanging fruit where they assume there’s money and (hopefully) someone who’s either gullible, not paying attention, or just not on top of things. As with any other business, if it weren’t profitable they wouldn’t do it. The best we can do is to make it as unprofitable as possible.
Dr. Block has a solo neurology practice in Scottsdale, Ariz.