With open enrollment for Medicare Part B under way, seniors are being warned that some solicitation calls for the healthcare plans may actually be scams to get them to reveal confidential information.

The state Executive Office of Aging yesterday advised more than 100 people at the Lanakila Senior Center to "just say no" if anyone asks them over the phone for Social Security numbers or bank account information. The event was an informational session on Medicare.

While there are only scattered reports of suspicious calls across the state, officials are more worried about the calls not being reported.

Apparently, in at least one scam, a man with a "foreign" accent has been telling seniors they can save $500 on a drug plan if they sign up over the phone. The seniors are asked to divulge their Social Security numbers, or the last four digits of it, and their bank information.

Suzie Anderson, an area work incentives coordinator for the Social Security Administration, said a national hot line has been receiving numerous calls from people checking to see if the calls they're getting asking for information are legitimate.

They're not.

"Don't give your Social Security number or personal identifying information out," she said. "Ask for a name and number and ask if you can call them back."

"They might hang up," she noted, but if they have any numbers to work with — including those pulled off the seniors' caller IDs — they might be able to track the caller.

Pamela Cunningham, from the Executive Office on Aging, said that if anyone from Social Security or Medicare made the call, they already have all the senior's information and should not be asking for it. The only time the information should be given out is if the senior initiated the call to Medicare and is being asked to confirm his or her identity.

Cunningham said several seniors in Maui have had callers ask for their Social Security numbers and a few in Wai'anae have been called about seemingly bogus drug plans.

Since it is enrollment season, seniors are also receiving calls from competing health providers. Those calls may be legitimate, but experts advise not making decisions over the phone.

Jim Howell, 69, a retired court officer who now volunteers for SAGE Plus, the state's Medicare counseling program, said he receives calls almost daily from people offering to refinance his mortgage or offer him other suspiciously good sounding deals.

"As soon as I determine what they want ... I tell them no, then hang up," he said.

Another alarm bell goes off when the caller asks for specific information, like a Social Security number. "Then I just say, 'Bye-bye. Thank you.' "

He noted, however, that he gets most of his Medicare information in the mail, not over the phone, and hasn't had a lot of phone solicitation from health plan providers.

Amy Lam, 74, a retired caregiver who attended the information session, said she hasn't received calls recently, and when she does, she gets rid of them by saying she's happy with her current plan.

"Some are very persuasive, though," she said. "They just keep on asking."

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.