Why August is the most dangerous month to ignore your data

Medicare Open Enrollment doesn't start until Oct. 15. So why am I telling you to worry about this in August? Because by the time October 15 arrives, scammers aren't starting their work. They're finishing it. The scam calls you may hear this fall, including fake Medicare card offers and urgent Social Security warnings, are only the final step. Scammers often build their target lists long before they make contact. Here is how that targeting process works and what you can do now to make yourself and your family harder to scam. THIS SATURDAY! Free live CyberGuy class: Protect Your Money From Today’s Biggest Threats Join us Saturday, Aug. 29, at 10 a.m. ET for a free CyberGuy LIVE class covering five simple steps to help defend yourself against AI scams, fraud, identity theft and financial hacks. Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson will explain how to set up bank alerts, strengthen your account logins, protect your phone number, freeze your credit and help secure your retirement savings against unauthorized transfers. No technical experience is needed. You’ll also receive our financial protection checklist, and every registrant will get a link to the class recording afterward. Reserve your free spot today at CyberGuyLive.com. DR OZ WARNS MEDICARE SCAMMERS ARE STEALING BILLIONS — AND YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION COULD BE NEXT The dates that shape fall benefit scams Two major dates put Medicare and Social Security on the minds of millions of Americans each fall. Oct. 15 Medicare Open Enrollment begins on October 15 and runs through December 7. During that period, people can review their coverage and make certain changes that generally take effect Jan. 1. That also means beneficiaries expect to receive plan information, advertisements and calls about their coverage. Oct. 14, 2026 The Bureau of Labor Statistics currently plans to release September 2026 inflation data on Oct. 14. That release will complete the third-quarter CPI-W figures used to calculate the 2027 Social Security COLA. The Social Security Administration says the next COLA will be announced in October 2026. Based on the current schedule, the announcement is expected on October 14. The Senior Citizens League currently projects a 3.8% increase for 2027. That estimate has been generating headlines, but it isn't the official number. The final percentage will depend on inflation data for July, August and September. Scammers do not have to guess when people will be thinking about benefits. These dates are public and repeat every year. The part that happens before the phone rings Here's what almost nobody thinks about. A scam call often comes near the end of the process, not the beginning. Before a fraudster dials, someone has to decide whom to target. Consumer lists can help make that decision. The Justice Department has already shown in court how marketing data can end up in the hands of scammers. How Epsilon helped fraudsters find targets Epsilon Data Management maintained a database covering roughly 100 million American households. Two former employees, Robert Reger and David Lytle, spent about a decade selling targeted consumer lists to people running fraud schemes. Epsilon used consumer data and algorithms to identify people who were likely to respond to certain offers. One fraudster bought nearly 100 lists and used them to defraud more than 218,000 victims of over $23.7 million. Epsilon paid $150 million to resolve the case. That included $22.5 million in criminal penalties and $127.5 million for victim compensation. In September 2024, a federal court sentenced Reger to 120 months in prison and Lytle to 48 months. Other marketing companies supplied fraud operations Epsilon was not alone. KBM Group employees sold consumer data to clients involved in fraudulent mass-mailing schemes. The company entered into an agreement requiring it to pay $33.5 million for victim compensation and an $8.5 million criminal fine. Macromark pleaded guilty to knowingly supplying lists of potential victims to fraudulent mass mailers. Many of the victims were older and vulnerable. The company agreed to pay $1 million in fines and forfeiture. These companies did not operate from hidden corners of the dark web. They were established marketing businesses with employees, clients and offices. Targeted lists remain easy to buy Legitimate marketing companies still sell consumer lists online. Vendors advertise databases of Americans age 65 and older, along with lists created specifically for businesses that want to contact people approaching their 65th birthday. Buyers can often filter those lists by age, location, income, homeownership and other demographic details. Some products also include names, mailing addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and estimated home values. Selling a marketing list does not automatically make the vendor or buyer a scammer. However, the market shows how easily someone can identify and contact a narrow group of older Americans. That is why August and September matter. The personal data already exists, the enrollment dates are public and anyone planning a fall fraud campaign can begin researching potential targets before the calls start. WHAT A SCAMMER SEES THE MOMENT THEY GOOGLE YOUR NAME Where your data broker profile comes in A purchased list gets a scammer a name, an age, and an address. That alone makes for a generic call. What turns a generic call into a convincing one is everything else that's sitting on people-search sites like Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified and Intelius. As I've written before, those profiles routinely include address history, relatives' names, and financial signals like property ownership and estimated home value. That's the difference between "Hello, I'm calling about your Medicare benefits" and "Hi Mr. Patterson, I'm calling about the plan at your address on Maple Street. Is your wife Linda still on the same coverage?" One of those calls gets hung up on. The other one gets answered. You can run a quick free scan of how exposed you are online to get a better understanding of your data exposure. If it shows details you never consented to publishing, you'll be able to take action and get them removed. Get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web: CyberGuy.com. What the numbers actually show A data removal service research team analyzed FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center data and found that 72% of the crimes reported by Americans over 60 in 2024 were facilitated or made worse by victims' personal data being available online. That's roughly 82,000 complaints out of 113,906. Those data-facilitated crimes accounted for $4.2 billion of the $4.9 billion older Americans reported losing that year. The average victim lost about $33,200. And this problem is growing, not shrinking. Reported elder fraud victims rose 45% in a single year. What the fall adds isn't a new kind of crime. It's a schedule. The Federal Trade Commission puts it plainly: "Every year, scammers get more active around Medicare Open Enrollment Period, trying to get your money, information, or both." The agency warns that callers pose as Medicare representatives, pressure people about a "new" or "updated" Medicare card, and spoof caller ID so the call appears to come from an official number. Meanwhile, the Social Security version writes itself. Every October, a wave of "Claim Your COLA" scams tells retirees they have to take action to receive their increase or they'll lose it. They don't. The adjustment is automatic. But by October, that call arrives sounding perfectly timed, because it is. 'I'll worry about this when the calls actually start' That's the natural reaction. October feels like the real deadline. Why act now? Because the targeting gets locked in before the calls do. If your name, age, address, relatives, and financial profile are sitting on broker sites this month, they're available to be compiled, sorted, and resold well before anyone picks up a phone in October. And removal isn't instant. Brokers have to process opt-out requests, and they re-list information on a rolling basis, which means the process works best when you start it early and let it run. Beginning in August means you're being scrubbed from the pipeline while it's still being assembled. Beginning in November means you're filing paperwork while the calls are already coming in. The point isn't to react faster. It's to be a worse target before anyone goes looking. How to get ahead of the cycle now These steps can help reduce the personal information scammers may use and prepare your family before fall fraud attempts begin. 1) Search for yourself first Go to Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified or a similar site and look up your own name. See exactly what a caller would see this month, before they do. 2) Do it for your parents too If you have older relatives, their profiles are the ones worth the most to a scammer. An August check-in beats an October warning. WHY CAREFUL PEOPLE STILL END UP ON DATA BROKER SITES 3) Submit opt-out requests now, not in October Every major broker is required to honor removal requests. The catch: there are hundreds of them, each with its own process, and they re-list your information regularly. Starting now gives the process time to work before the fall surge. 4) Use an automated data removal service Removing your information from data brokers one site at a time can take hours. A reputable automated data removal service can submit opt-out requests on your behalf and continue checking participating sites in case your information reappears. Some services also accept custom removal requests for people-search sites and other websites that publish personal details. Before signing up, compare the number of brokers covered, how often the service checks for new listings, whether it handles custom requests and whether independent experts have reviewed its privacy and security practices. A family plan may offer better value when you want to protect parents, children or other members of your household. No service can remove every piece of information from the internet, but ongoing removals can reduce the personal details scammers may use to create convincing calls, messages or emails. Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting CyberGuy.com. 5) Set a family password now, before the calls start Agree on a code word with elderly parents or relatives today, while there's no pressure. It's a much easier conversation in August than in the middle of a panicked phone call in November. 6) Change your security questions If your bank still verifies you with "mother's maiden name" or "city you were born in," that information is likely already on a broker profile. Switch to answers that aren't true and store them in a password manager. Kurt's key takeaways Medicare Open Enrollment runs from October 15 through December 7, while the 2027 Social Security COLA is expected to be announced on October 14. Those public dates give scammers predictable events to reference in calls, texts and letters. Justice Department cases involving Epsilon, KBM Group and Macromark show that consumer information has been sold to fraud operations and used to identify older or vulnerable targets. The FBI received 201,266 complaints from people 60 and older in 2025, with reported losses reaching $7.748 billion. Incogni separately estimated that exposed personal information may have facilitated or worsened 72% of the 2024 crime categories it analyzed. Removing information from people-search sites cannot prevent every scam. However, reducing exposed details can make it harder for a criminal to create a convincing personal story. Social Security COLA increases are automatic. Medicare cards are mailed automatically and are free. Anyone demanding information or payment to activate either one should be treated as a potential scammer. You still have time before this year's open enrollment period begins. Search your name today and see what a stranger can learn before ever picking up the phone. Has a scammer ever used personal details to make a Medicare or Social Security call seem legitimate? Let us know by writing to us at CyberGuy.com. Sign up for my FREE CyberGuy Report CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP Copyright 2026 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved.