QUESTION:
Medicare card scam warning legit?
ANSWER:
Yes, the warning email is real.
SOURCES:
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Health and Human Services
PROCESS:
In just a few days, Health and Human Services is phasing in new Medicare cards, which use a unique code of letters and numbers, getting rid of social security numbers.
Jane Cooper of Saint Mary's County reached out to our Verify team. She wants to know if scammers are preparing to make April Fools out of seniors during the phase-out.
Jane got this email warning her to hang up on calls from people claiming to be from Medicare. It claims the creeps will insist you need a temporary card before receiving your new one, charging you up to fifty dollars and asking for personal information like your bank account of credit cards.
WUSA9 researchers checked with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. They say Medicare will never call you out of the blue, and there's no such thing as a temporary card. The new cards go right to your address, no action needed. We also checked with the Federal Trade Commission.
Just in the past three months, more than thirty-seven hundred people have reported Medicare or Medicaid imposter scams--that's more than double the same time last year.
So keep your radar on for scammers looking to grab some of your cash by charging for fake temp Medicare cards. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, those in the D-M-V won't have to wait long for their new cards. Our region is the first to get them--between April and June.
