TL;DR
Being Patient published Mark Niu’s account of trying to stop frequent robocalls and marketing calls directed at his mother, who has Alzheimer’s. He says call filters, manual blocking and the National Do Not Call Registry did not stop the calls, while suspected misuse of her information led the family to change her Medicare number. The account also includes warnings from scam-prevention experts about caller ID spoofing and the limits of current protections.
Being Patient published Mark Niu’s account of trying to stop frequent robocalls aimed at his mother, who has Alzheimer’s, describing years of largely ineffective blocking efforts and a change to her Medicare number after he suspected her personal information had been misused. The report highlights the difficulty families can face protecting a person with cognitive impairment from persistent calls and potential fraud.
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Niu wrote that his mother received marketing, spam and robocalls at least 20 times a day. He tried raising the spam-filtering level through her phone provider, Xfinity; adding numbers to its call-blocking menu; and registering her number with the National Do Not Call Registry. He said the calls continued, and that manually entering numbers was time-consuming and ineffective.
Niu also described a separate problem that began during the COVID-19 pandemic. His mother received about 50 COVID-19 test kits over two years, billed at $90 each, according to his account. He suspected she had provided her Social Security number, which he said was linked to her Medicare number, but he did not establish how the information was obtained or who initiated the orders. After contacting Medicare representatives without resolving the issue, the family changed her Medicare number.
The report features Ken Westbrook, founder and CEO of Stop Scams Alliance, who said caller ID can be manipulated to make calls appear to come from domestic numbers. Westbrook urged people facing unusual requests to involve someone else before responding. The article also cites a 2025 Stop Scams Alliance and Gallup survey estimating that 15 million U.S. adults had been scammed, with reported losses totaling about $68 billion. Those are survey estimates, not a count of cases independently verified in the article.
Why Caregivers Face Persistent Call Risks
Niu’s account shows how repeated calls can create a practical safety problem for families when a person with dementia may have difficulty recognizing suspicious requests or remembering earlier warnings. It also illustrates that common defenses—provider filters, number blocking and the national registry—may not stop every unwanted call, based on his experience.
The reported Medicare billing concern adds a financial and administrative dimension: Niu said the government was billed for tests his mother received, even though she was not paying directly. The account does not establish that the test shipments were fraudulent, but it describes why suspected misuse of personal or insurance information can prompt families to seek help from providers and government programs.
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The Family’s Earlier Protection Attempts
Niu’s report is the second installment in Being Patient’s series on protecting older adults from scams. The publication said the first installment, a physician’s perspective on the costs of memory loss and scams, appeared the previous week. Niu’s article focuses on the experience of one family rather than a formal evaluation of phone-blocking products or a survey of caregivers.
Westbrook also described his own mother’s experience with a computer pop-up that claimed she needed technical support. She later received calls that appeared to come from Microsoft and Chase Bank, but Westbrook said the displayed locations were spoofed. He said she lost most of her life savings. His account underscores that a familiar company name or local-looking number on caller ID does not, by itself, verify who is calling.
Westbrook said more than 20 countries block inbound calls that falsely display a domestic caller ID and argued the United States could adopt a similar policy. He also acknowledged that criminals may use U.S.-based shell companies operating as carriers, making enforcement and legal solutions difficult.
“Caller ID can be very easily manipulated and therefore it cannot be trusted if your phone says it’s calling from a local number.”
— Ken Westbrook, founder and CEO of Stop Scams Alliance
What the Account Cannot Establish
Niu said he was “almost certain” his mother had shared her Social Security number, but the report does not confirm how the test kits were ordered, who sent them, or whether her Medicare information was used improperly. It also does not name the sellers or provide Medicare’s account of the billing. The reason the shipments stopped, if they did, is not specified beyond the family’s decision to change her Medicare number.
The report does not say whether changing the number reduced the robocalls, nor does it identify a particular blocking device that worked for the family. Its description of call frequency and attempted remedies is based on Niu’s personal experience. The article excerpt also begins a discussion of silent or “phantom” calls but does not provide enough information to establish their purpose or the steps that might stop them.
Further Steps and Policy Proposals
Westbrook said he supports stronger rules against calls that falsely display domestic caller ID, while acknowledging that shell companies and carrier arrangements can complicate enforcement. The report does not announce a new policy, a regulatory decision or a timetable for action.
For Niu’s family, the account describes changing the Medicare number after contacts with Medicare representatives failed to resolve the test-kit issue. It does not report whether the family took further action or whether the unwanted calls later declined. Any broader effects of the proposed call-blocking measures, and the effectiveness of particular tools for this family, remain unreported.
Key Questions
How often did Niu’s mother receive calls?
Niu wrote that she received marketing, spam and robocalls at least 20 times a day. This is his account of his mother’s experience, not a general estimate for people with Alzheimer’s.
What steps did the family try to block the calls?
Niu said he asked Xfinity to increase spam filtering, manually added numbers to its call-blocking menu and registered his mother’s phone number with the National Do Not Call Registry. He reported that those efforts did not stop the calls.
Why did the family change her Medicare number?
Niu said his mother received about 50 COVID-19 test kits over two years, billed at $90 each. He suspected her information had been shared, contacted Medicare representatives and said the family ultimately changed her number. The report does not confirm how the orders were placed or whether the number was misused.
Can caller ID confirm that a call is legitimate?
No. Westbrook said caller ID can be manipulated to display a local or familiar number. He advised involving another person when a request or situation seems unusual; the article does not present caller ID as reliable proof of a caller’s identity.
Source: beingpatient.com
