July 2024 Medicare Fraud Prevention Fact – Identify and Prevent Phone Scams
Posted: July 02, 2024
This month’s Fraud Fact from the Missouri SMP (Senior Medicare Patrol) focuses on how to identify and prevent phone scams.
Older adults are often a target of fraud. Scammers can be clever and convincing with rehearsed stories to catch you off guard in the attempt to get your personal information. You can help protect yourself by being educated on the current scams. For instance,
- Caller ID Spoofing – This is when scammers use software to appear that they are calling from a local number or government agency.
- Robocalls/Robotexts – Similar to caller ID spoofing but scammers can appear as legitimate businesses or agencies in attempt to gain personal information.
- Impersonator Scams – When a scammer calls pretending to be someone you trust. (Such as a family member or law enforcement agency department).
What to do if you receive a suspicious call:
- Don’t answer unknown numbers. If you’ve missed a call from an unknown number, do not call it back.
- Hang up. If someone calls to verify your personal information, says your information has been compromised, or states they want to send you a new Medicare card, hang up and call the party the caller was claiming to be from (Medicare, doctor, bank). Ask if someone was attempting to reach you otherwise this was an attempted phone scam.
- Do not “press 1” or confirm information in unexpected texts or automated calls. If your pharmacy texts every month to press 1 for your prescription refill, it is ok to continue doing so. But, if you get a text from FedEx that they are unable to deliver your package, do not reply. This is likely a phone scam attempt.
- Register your phone number on the National Do Not Call Registry. You can do this by calling 888-382-1222 or visiting donotcall.gov. This will not stop scammers and spam calls, but it will make them easier to identify. Most legitimate telemarketers will not call if you are on the registry because they could face penalties including fines.
Phone scams are unfortunately common but by educating yourself on how scammers try to fool us, you can avoid being a victim. Do you suspect you have been a victim of a phone scam? Did you give a caller your Medicare number? Call the Missouri Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) at 888-515-6565 for help. Senior Medicare Patrols (SMPs) empower and assist Medicare beneficiaries, their families, and caregivers to prevent, detect, and report health care fraud, errors, and abuse through outreach, counseling, and education.
This project was supported, in part, by the U.S. Administration for Community Living (ACL), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $662,347 with 100 percent funding by ACL/HHS. The contents are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, ACL/HHS, or the U.S. Government
