The Federal Trade Commission posted a warning in late August 2022, telling us about scammers targeting Medicare recipients with bogus offers for “free COVID tests.”
These crooks directly call seniors; they set up websites and run online and television ads, all with the goal to convince people to give up their Medicare information. But if you give them your information, they’ll bill fraudulent charges to Medicare.
The most critical ingredient to accomplish Medicare fraud is a database of Medicare numbers. You can’t submit a claim without a Medicare number. So, those criminals running Medicare fraud rackets expend a lot of effort into compiling those databases. They do this by offering various “free” services, tests, orthopedic braces, alarms, new cards, etc, in exchange for your Medicare number. COVID tests are only the most recent enticement to seniors.
The FTC reported hearing about many Medicare recipients who signed up for these free COVID tests and never got them. Worse is that scammers, once in possession of that Medicare number, can use it to bill for other products and services people didn’t need — and didn’t get.
If you are a Medicare beneficiary, or know one, these are tips to avoid such scams:
During the COVID-19 public health emergency, Medicare covers eight free COVID-19…
