I wouldn't doubt they would target charities specifically, thinking they might be easier marks. My mother, who is elderly, gets these types of calls all the time, every day -- despite being on the do not call list -- and I'm sure it's because they know she's a senior. Besides the "fix your computer" calls, she gets all kinds of "you've won a free vacation" scam calls, and a bunch where they try to say that equipment her doctor has ordered for her is on the way and paid for by insurance, equipment like those rascal type scooters that she doesn't need in the least but is the right age for. Clearly they know what they're doing.

Not that long ago, she was in the hospital for a while for a serious and very personal procedure, the type you don't want others to know about because it's so embarrassing, and when she first got home and I was helping her settle in, an equipment company called somehow knowing the exact procedure she got, the date of her procedure, and were wanting to sell her relevant supplies ... I asked how they had her name and information and they couldn't say .. suggested maybe she had called earlier inquiring? I knew for sure she hadn't, because besides her being in a relative coma we'd been given recommendations for good vendors by a friend of hers who's a doctor before we'd even thought about needing them, and it didn't include this company. I was madder than a March hare, realizing that somebody was likely already making money selling this very personal information out of the hospital's database. And these guys might actually have been a perfectly legit in terms of what they were selling, but to me invasion of privacy is no way to start a business relationship, and preying on the confusion of those who have just been through the chaos of a harrowing medical emergency is unforgivable.