Summer is the season of opportunity. And seizing upon that opportunity, as many area residents may have already found, are peddlers, solicitors and transient merchants.
Most are reputable, simply using the opportunity of the season to bring interested parties together— connecting buyers with sellers, donors with charities and bringing information to the uninformed.
Yet, in the murky wake of the reputable, follow scammers, crooks and con artists similarly seizing the opportunity of the season though they do so unscrupulously.
Compound the opportunity of the season with the opportunity of confusion—created by the signing of a new national health care bill—and we have the makings of a perfect summer storm. A storm of fraud.
Already in cities like Clarkfield there have been reports of shadowy selling practices by insurance companies looking to take advantage of people’s confusion with changes to federal and state health care programs. Most of these selling practices being reported are perfectly legal, though sometimes they can border on the side of being deceitful.
A common report, in Clarkfield, is that go-betweens from insurance companies cold call a particular resident without making it clear who they are or who they represent and lightly veil themselves as a government operator. They insist that an agent must come to a resident’s home to explain changes in medicare and the health care system and are aggressive in setting an appointment for a representative to meet with you. The setting of an appointment allows agents to circumvent Clarkfield’s transient merchant ordinances, because if they have an appointment they can no longer be considered solicitors or transient merchants. And salesman know that the hardest part of making a sale is getting in the door.
Reputable insurance agents can be extremely helpful in deciphering medical coverage and will not pressure individuals into a purchase. Yet, disreputable agents often use tactics like urging an individual to sign up and pay immediately, respond incompletely to an individual’s questions and will tell an individual that the insurance policy they are pushing “covers everything”.
To avoid scams individuals can follow a few common sense practices, chiefly among these is not to be rushed into a decision. Also, individuals should ask the agent to point out provisions in the policy that back up the agent’s claims and should read the policy completely before signing anything. Furthermore, people should remember that in Minnesota there is a state law that gives individuals a three-day right to cancel Medicare supplement or long term care insurance policies.
If you do think you may have been scammed or were made uneasy by an unsolicited phone call or salesman, Clarkfield Police Chief Ian Hodge says residents shouldn’t hesitate to contact their local police.
“In any situation where cold calling or door-to-door solicitors are making our residents uncomfortable we need to know about it,” said Chief Hodge. “The last thing we want is for someone to be defrauded and we do our best to ensure legitimate businesses are coming into the community.”
In Clarkfield, transient merchants or peddlers are required by city ordinance to procure a license and if a resident is being solicited they should ask to see that license. In applying for that license transient merchants are required to specify and prove the nature of their business as well as provide identification and a place of origin. That information helps to ensure that the merchant is reputable and if fraud should occur they can be tracked down.
