Sheriff Warns of New Medicare Scams

Social Security is sending out new Medicare ID cards and criminals are trying to take advantage of the announcement with a new phone scam targeting seniors.

Congress required the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to remove Social Security numbers from Medicare cards by April 2019.

The new Medicare ID numbers will be a mix of numbers and letters, and the Social Security Administration has already begun sending out the new Medicare cards to all 59 million Medicare recipients.

Stephens County Sheriff Randy Shirley says scammers are using the new ID card announcement to try and get money and personal information from Medicare recipients.

“Somebody will call and say they are from Medicare,” Shirley explained. “They will say they are issuing you a temporary card and they need you to pay a fee to process your temporary card. The scammer will try to get your personal information such as your bank account number or your credit card number. That is a scam. Medicare does NOT issue temporary cards.”

Yet another phone scam involves those on Medicare being told they get a refund on their old cards, and all they need to do is provide their bank information to process the refund.

Medicare does not give refunds on old ID cards.

Once you receive your new Medicare ID card you should tear up and throw away your old one.

Sheriff Shirley advises seniors expecting a new Medicare card to guard against these types of phone scams.

“Medicare will never call you unless you ask them to. Medicare does all communications by mail. So, spread the word. If you have voicemail or an answering machine, allow your answering machine to catch those calls if you don’t recognize the number,” Shirley said.

Additionally, most smart phones will let you block those phone numbers you do not recognize.

Now if you have been a victim of one of these Medicare scams, the Sheriff says it’s important to report it immediately.

“If this does happen to you and you’ve given personal information to a scammer, take immediate action,” he said. “Please call us at the Sheriff’s office or call 911 and request a deputy. We want to assist you and we want to make sure you’ve taken all the steps to keep from becoming a victim.”