Starting this month, the US Government is issuing new Medicare cards to insured citizens. This new card will not have social security numbers on them to prevent fraud, fight identity theft, and keep taxpayer dollars safe.
New Medicare Card Scam
Though this is all in good faith, this process has exposed people to a new scam. The scam consists of a person calling beneficiaries saying they need to verify their social security number before the card can be issued. Others have reported that they had people calling them asking for payment via credit card for a processing fee. Another form of the scam tells beneficiaries that they are due a refund from transactions on the previous card. All the scammers need is the person’s bank information to deposit the funds.
People Don’t Know About a New Medicare Card
In a survey conducted by AARP, 76% of respondents didn’t know about or knew very little about the plan to make new cards. 60% weren’t even sure if they would be required to pay a fee. With how little knowledge there is about the new cards, the 58 million Medicare beneficiaries in the US are vulnerable to this attack.
All beneficiaries should know that there is no fee to obtain the new Medicare card, and there are no refunds that need to be issued. Medicare also does not make calls to verify social security numbers and does not initiate uninvited contact.
Reporting Scam Calls
If you believe you have received one of these calls, you can report them to the FTC.
Learn more about protecting yourself from government imposters.
First Orion creates forward-thinking technologies to make a better communications experience for businesses, consumers, and mobile servicer providers.
