Senior Medicare Patrol and Better Business Bureau urge residents to verify unsolicited calls and mail during sign-up period
Officials with the Wisconsin Senior Medicare Patrol and the Better Business Bureau are warning residents to watch for scams during the Medicare open enrollment period. Both organizations said scammers may exploit the sign-up period using urgency and deceptive calls.
Ingrid Kundinger, fraud and abuse programs manager for the Wisconsin Senior Medicare Patrol, said this is a good time to review coverage and make changes for the coming year.
Lisa Schiller of the Better Business Bureau in Wisconsin said the organization has already received reports of scam calls tied to open enrollment.
“We see this every year during open enrollment. Scammers like to take advantage of that,” Schiller said. “They’ve already been making phone calls for the past couple of weeks. We’ve had reports to our scam tracker from consumers letting us know that they’ve received a spoofing calls from people claiming to be with Medicare, asking them for personal information and sometimes even payments.”
Schiller said open enrollment runs for the several weeks, so people should be aware of calls that may come in during that time.
Kundinger said residents should watch for red flags during the process.
What is a red flag during Medicare open enrollment?
According to the Wisconsin Senior Medicare Patrol, red flags include:
Unsolicited calls from someone claiming to represent Medicare
Requests for personal or Medicare-related information
Pressure to act quickly
Threats that Medicare will be canceled for not being “compliant”
Fake offers for a new Medicare card
Kundinger said all of the above are signs of a scam.
“We don’t want anyone, you know, to be putting their personal information or, you know, even financial information at risk, giving it away to some unknown caller who claims to be with Medicare or the healthcare.gov or something of that nature,” Schiller said.
Is there a new Medicare card?
Kundinger said her office receives daily calls from Wisconsin residents reporting claims a new Medicare card.
“Every day still in the state of Wisconsin, people are contacting us via our toll-free helpline to say, ‘They just called me and said, my new card is going to be orange, green and yellow instead of red, white and blue,’” Kundinger said. “And that’s not, there’s not a new Medicare card.”
What should you do if you receive a suspicious call or mail?
The Wisconsin Senior Medicare Patrol advises residents to:
Hang up if they receive a suspicious call
Take time to verify who is calling or sending mail before responding
Schiller said Medicare will not call someone unless that person has already called Medicare and is awaiting a callback. She said scammers can spoof caller ID to make a call look like it is coming from Medicare or another entity.
“Unfortunately, we cannot trust our caller ID. Very easy for scammers to spoof that,” Schiller said. “So if you get a call from someone claiming to be with Medicare or healthcare.gov , hang up the phone. You might want to call Medicare directly to check on it. Otherwise, I’m here to tell you it’s probably a scam.”
Where can residents get help comparing Medicare plans?
The Wisconsin Senior Medicare Patrol points residents to the following resources:
Your area’s Aging and Disability Resource Center, which offers unbiased help comparing plans
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