A man called my 82 year old widowed mother on Dec. 13 representing himself as an employee of her bank and asked her the number of her last check she had written. She gave it to him and he hung up. She became suspicious and immediately went to her bank and reported the phone call. The bank had no employees by the name of the man who called her. The bank immediately froze her checking account. That night an electronic debit was charged against her frozen account by Consumer Health Benefits Association for $399.00. This money never came out of her account due to the fact the bank had stopped all transactions on the account. The bank arranged for her to have a new account with a new number. The bank gave my mother a zerox copy of the attempted debit by Consumer Health Benefits Association with their customer service phone number. I called the number and told the man who answered that I was inquiring about the Consumer Health Benefits Association. He told me that he answered several companies phones and that this was just one of the companies. I told him what had happened to my mother and that the bank had notified the FBI. At that point the man who answered the phone became very agitated and stated that there was no cause to make this a legal thing and wanted my mother's phone number and address. I gave him neither and hung up. I am a retired State Investigator with the Alabama Attorney General's Office and I spent the last 14 years of my career in the White Collar Crime Division. I know a scam when I see one. I believe the appropriate authorities in Florida or wherever should initiate a criminal investigation into the Consumer Health Benefit Association before they take anymore money from elderly ladies who cannot afford to be ripped off.
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