AARP: New Medicare Scams

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - Reports are coming in from Medicare recipients across the country about fraudulent charges to their Medicare accounts. Specifically, being billed for COVID-19 home tests that they did not request.

Hot It Works:

· You may receive a phone call from someone claiming to be from Medicare or a medical testing company, offering you COVID-19 home tests at no cost to you. They then request that you provide or confirm your Medicare account number.

· Alternatively, COVID-19 tests could just appear in your mail without ever receiving a call about them. In this case your Medicare account number has likely been compromised somewhere and sold to scammers.

How To Protect Yourself:

· Never give out your Medicare account information over the phone to anyone, unless you are absolutely certain you know who you are dealing with. Know that scammers can “spoof” your caller ID and make it appear that they are calling from a legitimate company or Medicare.

· Carefully review your monthly Medicare statements. This is how we are learning about these scams. Many Medicare recipients are not reviewing these statements, and the program is being robbed of money that should be going to patient care.

· If you believe your Medicare account information has been stolen or used in fraud, call 1-800-MEDICARE to report it and request a new Medicare card number.

For more information to protect yourself and your family from fraud, visit AARP Fraud Watch Network at aarp.org/fraudwatch. It’s a free service for people of all ages from AARP.