Alaska’s Medicare Information Office has received several complaints about scammers pretending to be Medicare representatives, stating your Medicare card has been deactivated, and often using caller ID spoofing to mask their identity. Caller ID spoofing is when a caller deliberately falsifies the information sent to your caller ID display to disguise their identity. According to a press release, scammers often use neighbor spoofing, so it appears that an incoming call is coming from a local (907) phone number or spoof a number from a company or a government agency that you know and trust.
Several tactics may be used to steal your money or identity. Some callers indicate your Medicare card has been compromised and they need to send you a new card. Some claim the new card has a microchip like credit cards or is a new plastic Medicare card. They may even request payment for the new Medicare card, ask you to ‘verify’ your Medicare or Social Security Number, and/or ask for the name of your primary care doctor. If successful, your money can be stolen or your personal information can be used to file false Medicare claims, fill prescriptions, or sell your information to others.
Information to know:
- There is no fee for a new Medicare card.
- Red, white, and blue Medicare (Part A and Part B) cards are paper – they do not come with a “gold chip”, microchip, or as a plastic card.
- Medicare will never call you uninvited to request personal or private information for you to get your Medicare number and/or new card.
- Any major communications from Medicare come through the postal mail, that includes when new cards are issued.
- If someone calls you claiming to be from Medicare, hang up, even if the caller ID says they’re calling from Medicare. Any phone number can be spoofed.
For more information visit www.medicare.gov/fraud.