Monthly Archives: May 2025

I didn’t directly order any tests from IHD labs but maybe one of the doctors I have consulted over the years did. How do I know whether this message is legitimate or not? What is my appropriate response?

I tried calling the number given. After 5 minutes on hold I gave up. After all, they have an infinitely patient AI to harass me but my human calendar is already full. I did leave a message explaining that I will not pay anything without further information. Since they already have my phone number they should be able to identify me with that. I left them no other personal data.

I looked up IHD Lab on the web. Yes, they seem to be a real medical testing lab in southern California. Neither I nor any of my doctors live anywhere near them. I could find no phone number or email address to enable me to discuss their claim. I have no way to verify that the message on my phone actually came from IHD Lab.

This is a perfect example of why many of our technologies are not sufficiently developed to be released to the public. On the one side, they enable criminal behavior for which most of us have no defense. On the other side, the organizations that deploy them legitimately do not understand how to provide adequate information to their clients. Everyone is a victim of childish digital developer geeks telling themselves, “if we can do it, why not?”

This is why not.