Seniors nationwide are being swarmed by a staggering wave of Medicare scam calls — sometimes 60 or more in a single day — and the fallout is far more dangerous than a ringing phone. Behind the friendly voices and fake promises lurk schemes that steal identities, trigger unexpected medical charges, and even interrupt critical care. The surge has experts sounding the alarm and families scrambling to protect vulnerable loved ones. But how are scammers getting away with it, and why are the calls accelerating now? The answers reveal a system under siege — and what you learn next could help stop the damage before it starts.
How the Medicare scam unfolds
According to The New York Times, the scam typically begins with a bright, upbeat automated voice — often introducing itself as “Laura from health care” — urging seniors to confirm they have Medicare Parts A and B. The message is usually framed as an offer to help them claim an “additional Medicare benefit,” such as a private Medicare Advantage (Part C) plan. However, what starts as a seemingly harmless call can quickly spiral into harassment. One victim recorded calls coming in every 14 minutes, creating a near-constant disruption that he and his daughter struggled to manage. The daughter said the nonstop alerts were frequently spoofed to look as though they originate from nearby towns.
Scammers often rely on personal details taken from data breaches, such as a victim’s age, address, or partial Social Security number, to make their calls sound convincing. Nicole Liebau, strategic partnership and engagement director for the federally funded Senior Medicare Patrol, said these fraudsters often begin a conversation already equipped with enough information to appear credible. Once they gain the victim’s trust, they attempt to gather more details to commit identity theft, including using stolen information to bill Medicare for fake supplies or nonexistent services. In other cases, scammers cast such a wide net that even people who aren’t yet eligible for Medicare are targeted.
How big is the Medicare scam
The scale of the problem is only growing. Complaints about Medicare scam calls filed with Better Business Bureaus, a nonprofit organization that helps consumers find trustworthy businesses and avoid scams, have jumped 40 percent in the past year. In addition, the Federal Communications Commission now reports receiving between 5,000 and 6,000 complaints annually.
How the Medicare scam damages seniors’ finances and health
The fallout from these scams goes far beyond stolen personal information, often reaching directly into victims’ wallets and even altering their medical histories in dangerous ways.
In Clarksville, Texas, 80-year-old Jan E. Smith learned firsthand how far the fraud can go when a box of orthopedic braces (items she never ordered) appeared on her doorstep. Soon after, she found that her Medicare account had been billed $714.83 by an unfamiliar company. A representative from the Texas Senior Medicare Patrol later uncovered an even bigger problem: Smith’s account had been fraudulently charged at least five additional times that year, totaling about $1,200, for products she never requested, including COVID-19 tests and diabetes supplies, even though she is not diabetic.
Even more concerning is the damage that can occur inside a victim’s medical file once their Medicare number is exposed. Fraudulent claims can generate false diagnoses, incorrect allergy information, or inaccurate test results, all of which can follow a patient across future medical encounters. Nicole Liebau of the Senior Medicare Patrol explained that errors like these can have life-threatening consequences. In extreme cases, a scammer’s false billing could categorize a beneficiary as being under hospice care. “You can’t get curative care if you’re marked as receiving hospice and you didn’t even know it,” Liebau warned.
How to protect seniors from Medicare scams
Stopping the relentless flood of scam calls is a nearly impossible task for many seniors. Simply changing a phone number isn’t practical, as it would require notifying all legitimate contacts, including doctors, pharmacies, and home health agencies. Likewise, limiting calls to preapproved numbers can block critical medical communications. However, experts note that Medicare rarely makes unsolicited phone calls and typically follows up any outreach with a letter, so any unexpected call should be treated with extreme caution.
Protecting seniors from Medicare scams requires a sustained, multi-layered strategy — from improving call-blocking systems that can distinguish legitimate medical contacts from scams to expanding awareness programs, such as those led by the Senior Medicare Patrol, which teach beneficiaries never to share personal or Medicare information over the phone unless they initiated the call. Only through combined technological and educational efforts can seniors be shielded from both financial loss and the potential health risks posed by Medicare scams.
Source: The New York Times