Be conscientious of these Medicare Scams
I believe that bringing awareness to the subject of scammers can never be overdone. A few of you have relayed to me recently about how you have been inundated with phone calls from individuals claiming to be contacting you from Medicare. While this happens more often during the Annual Enrollment Period, it is important to stay vigilant as this can happen any time during the year. Individuals are always looking for new ways to scam seniors.
The Medicare annual enrollment period is from October 15th to December 7th every year. A scammer will call you outside of this period to tell you that you are missing out on additional benefits that other plans can offer you. This is an attempt to get your personal information. If they successfully obtain your Medicare ID number or your health plan information, they can falsely file claims or sell your data to others. They may even attempt to get your social security number or banking information in order to take out a loan in your name. Never give these numbers to anyone after an unsolicited phone call or email. Your Medicare number should never be shared with anyone other than your doctor, pharmacist, health insurer or trusted healthcare provider.
One of the most common scams that is worth mentioning is the Grandparents Scam. In this scam, a con artist will target the senior citizen by phone, email or text posing as the grandchild. The scammer will sound stressed or frantic, making it seem as if they are in an emergency such as a car accident, just been arrested, or even robbed. The scammer will be convincing as they could have family-related information they obtained through social media. After they have emotionally manipulated you, they may ask you to wire them thousands of dollars to rescue them from the predicament. If you have a social media account, it is best to be preemptive and set your profile to private. This will make it harder for a stranger to access your online activity or photos. A scammer will plead with you to keep the emergency a secret so that you will not be able to verify the legitimacy of the crisis. If anyone calls claiming to be your distressed loved-one asking for money, immediately hang up and call said grandchild back or contact other family members to ensure their safety.
A couple other scam call examples include:
An individual claiming they are Medicare contacting you to cancel your current plan coverage unless you update your personal information. Threats made to take away your benefits should be ignored because your benefits cannot be removed for not signing up for a plan.
Before 2018, the Medicare ID card included the Medicare recipient’s social security number. The red, white, and blue cards issued since 2018 now have the recipient’s Medicare ID number instead. In some cases, people have received phone calls advising that the caller can send them a new, secure chip card for their Medicare benefits. Individuals who received the calls and made the mistake of sharing their Medicare ID number said the callers informed them that the Medicare card was changing as it did in 2018 to a more secure version.
What can you do to mitigate these potentials scams? Stay tuned for Part 2.