New Medicare Scam

Medicare and health insurance are hot political topics right now, and scammers have come out in full force to take advantage of the publicity.

Who Is It Targeting: Medicare enrollees

What Is It: A possible scam offering additional services to Medicare enrollees

What Are They After: Two different reports have come into the ITRC from individuals who signed up for Medicare, only to later receive calls from someone claiming to be from Medicare and offering them additional discounted services, like knee brace coverage. The person called back multiple times and requested the victims’ Medicare numbers—which is their Social Security numbers—and other personal information.

How Can You Avoid It:

• Never give out your personal data to someone who calls you on the phone or emails you; they contacted you, remember? Wouldn’t they already have your information?
• If you’re enrolling in a genuine government program, verify the source before signing up for anything.

If you think you may be a victim of identity theft, contact the Identity Theft Resource Center for toll-free, no-cost assistance at (888) 400-5530. Find more information about current scams and alerts here. For full details of this scam check out this article from ITRC.