Medicare scams are on the rise. Four tips to avoid them

By Cheryl Winokur Munk -

Scammers often use deceptive tactics to get unsuspecting seniors to share their Medicare number.

They may offer free shipping on medical supplies or genetic testing kits, or promote some other type of rebate or incentive. 

Costing the US government tens of billions of dollars in annual losses, these kinds of health frauds are especially worrying because they target older people, who are often more vulnerable to exploitation. 

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Here are four protective steps older people and their families should take:

Protect your personal information

Applications from Medicare scammers can seem very realistic and tend to increase during open enrollment, which runs from October 15 to December 7.

However, scams can happen at any time of the year, so seniors should be on the lookout.

Scammers may try to contact you in a variety of ways, including by phone, email, postal mail, text messages, brochures, and flyers.

They are often looking to steal personal information, such as your Medicare number, which can be used to submit false Medicare claims.

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Often the older person has no idea these claims are taking place, says Richard Scheff, a partner in the litigation practice group at global law firm Armstrong Teasdale.

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Do not respond to requests from companies you do not recognize or click on links or respond to emails from people you do not know.

And if you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from Medicare, hang up immediately, even if the phone number on the caller ID screen appears to be credible.

Scammers can use a fake CallerID name to impersonate Medicare or another well-known organization, according to a consumer advisory from the Federal Trade Commission.

Seniors should know that no one from Medicare will call or text them unsolicited asking for money or to help them with enrollment or any other service. 

“Medicare will not contact a beneficiary unless the beneficiary has already contacted them asking for some kind of help,” says Elizabeth Foley, vice president of health policy and assistant general counsel for the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans.

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The longer you stay on the phone with the scammer, the more likely they are to divulge personal information.

“They are trying to gain your trust to get your information so they can scam you or use it to defraud the government at your expense,” he said.

Beware of free offers or incentives 

Scammers sometimes offer to send seniors durable medical equipment — such as crutches, knee braces, canes and splints — for free, says Ari Parker, senior Medicare advisor at Chapter, a Medicare advisory company.

The scammers then convince unsuspecting seniors to share their Medicare or Social Security number and use that information to bill Medicare for high-cost equipment.

To make the sham seem more real, scammers sometimes send some kind of lower-cost equipment to the recipient, but it's still a scam.

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The offers may seem very credible.

A recent example, highlighted by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP, for its acronym in English) is that of a scammer who claimed to have been referred by the doctor of the beneficiary of Medicare.

The caller asked if the beneficiary wanted to undergo a Medicare-covered DNA test to rule out cancer that runs in the patient's family.

To get this test at no cost, all the recipient had to do was provide her Medicare number, the scammer said.

Seniors should also disregard direct mail solicitations or emails purporting to be from Medicare.

Hackers spoof Medicare and create fake web pages that look identical to the real page in an attempt to steal personal information that they can use to defraud Medicare.

Check your benefit statements

One way to spot possible Medicare fraud is to read benefit statements carefully.

Many people don't take this step, or don't read statements carefully, allowing various types of fraud to go undetected.

One way to combat this is to be on the lookout for charges for products or services that you don't recognize or that don't seem to make sense. 

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If you have questions about a statement, call the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the federal agency within the US Department of Health and Human Services that runs the Medicare program, at 1-800-Medicare.

Report possible fraud

Call the Medicare number if you suspect fraud.

Also contact your local US Attorney's office and your state attorney general's office.

You can also file a complaint online at the Federal Trade Commission's website.  

If you find yourself in this situation, give yourself a break.

Scammers are very good at what they do and fool many unsuspecting seniors.

"There's no shame in this," Foley recalled.

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