Yesterday I experienced one of those rare occurrences when my phone actually rang. I call it a rare occurrence because I seldom use my “phone” as an actual phone. And while I’m explaining, I should probably admit that “rang” isn’t quite the right word either because my phone doesn’t ring. It plays the “The Monkey Song” by the Animaniacs whenever someone calls me. What can I say? It makes me smile.
So, let’s start over. Yesterday, my “phone” Monkey Songed me.
I glanced at the screen. The caller ID just gave a local CA number and didn’t indicate anything more. I don’t usually answer calls from numbers I don’t recognized, but I figured I’d give it a shot.
The caller said her name was Andrea and she was from Blue Shield. Then she asked if she was speaking to me. When I said “yes”, she said that she wanted to tell me some important healthcare information, but to do that, she’d need me to verify my date of birth.
My reply was that if she truly was from Blue Shield, she already knew my birth date and she should tell me what it is. Because, the only thing backing up her claim that she is truly Andrea from Blue Shield is that she said that’s who she was. She needed to give me some indication that proved she was from Blue Shield, starting with my date of birth.
Her reply was that she wasn’t allowed do that and I had to verify my identity before we could continue with the call. I told her that before I would be willing to continue the call, I’d need to know that the call was legitimate.
I said that that the onus was on her to prove who she is, not on me to prove who I am. After all, she called me, so she had a reasonable expectation that I was going to be the one answering my cell phone. But I had no idea who was on the other end of the line when I answered.
I told her that if I had called her, it would be different, and I’d have no problem providing information to prove to her that I am who I claim to be. But I didn’t call her. She called me. So, she needs to prove she is who she claims to be. I also mentioned that I wasn’t inclined to give out personal information to some random phone caller. She said that HIPPA regulations wouldn’t allow her to talk to me unless I verified who she was speaking to.
I replied that she was only probably going to tell me to get a COVID shot, wear a mask, etc. and none of that required me to verify who I am, so she should just go ahead with her script without me verifying my identity. She declined to do so, wished me a good day, said goodbye and ended the call.
Now, I’m pretty sure that Andrea actually was from Blue Shield and the call most likely wasn’t a scam.
But it got me to thinking.
A random telephone spam caller won’t give me a message that I didn’t ask for without me first verifying my identity. But, somehow it’s considered racist to ask for someone to show an ID when they vote.
The spammer is more interested in identifying the right person than the Democrats are about making sure the people who vote have a right to do so.
Here’s the thing, most people wouldn’t have given a second thought to giving Andrea from Blue Shield their birthdate. They probably also would have given her their address and last four digits of their Social Security number. Just to prove to her who they are, so they could hear “important healthcare information”.
Unbelievably, many of those same people who are so cavalier about identifying themselves that they’ll willingly give their personally identifiable information to some random phone spammer are also against voter ID.
But, when you think about it, it’s not so unbelievable. Because those people are also gullible enough to believe Andrea was from Blue Shield just because that’s who she claimed to be. And, if they believe Andrea, they’ll believe just about anything.
