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Community Corner

Elderly Can Be Easy Targets of Medicare Fraud Scheme

Eye-opening presentation at Community Memorial Hospital details how seniors are increasingly being targeted by phone, mail and Internet.

Hello, this is Medicare calling. Your card has expired. We need to have your old number so we can send you a new Medicare card.

The voice on the other end of the phone line may be a stranger but the message is becoming all-too-familiar.  Recent news and discussion about possible changes in Medicare drug benefits has sparked an increase in these kinds of calls with opportunistic scammers trying to convince the elderly to give out personal information.

Medicare and other types of consumer fraud are on the rise in this country and senior citizens are continually vulnerable because they are assumed to have money. There is also a general perception that the elderly are reluctant to report fraud.

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“Anyone is embarrassed to be taken,” said Brooke Barker, Milwaukee volunteer coordinator with the Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups (CWAG). “Older people also feel threatened, depressed that, if they let this be known, their independence will be threatened. People will think they are not competent to look after themselves. So they’re vulnerable.”

During a recent public service presentation at Community Memorial Hospital in Menomonee Falls, Barker pointed out that nobody really knows exactly how much money is lost each year in Medicare fraud alone. But the figure quoted most often is in the range of $60 billion to $80 billion. Barker also works with the Wisconsin Senior Medicare Patrol, offering advice on how seniors can protect their vital information.

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“Read your Medicare statements,” Barker explains. “Look for anything that looks obviously weird. There was a case in New York recently involving a 72-year-old lady, a grandmother who had a hysterectomy.  In reading her statements she found that Medicare had been billed for pregnancy testing and for a prostate exam! Medicare got taken for about $50,000.  To this day, she doesn’t know how the people committing fraud got hold of her number.”

Barker advises seniors to never give away their Medicare number and to treat it just like a credit card number. Beyond Medicare fraud, the elderly are also targets for an ever-growing variety of consumer scams.

“It can really happen to anybody,” Barker said.  “One type of consumer fraud that happens frequently is the so-called grandparent scam. A senior gets a call from someone posing as a grandchild or other relative on vacation, often in Canada. ‘Grandma, I’m in trouble. I’m so embarrassed. Don’t tell mom and dad but wire me some money or they’re going to put me in jail.’  The grandparent wires the money and then the next day, sees the kid at the mall. The kid knows nothing about it and hasn’t been to Canada but the money’s long gone.”

The tentacles of elder fraud also extend to the Internet.

“One reason this (fraud) is becoming so prevalent is social networking sites like Facebook because young people will be telling cute family stories to their friends,” Barker said. “The crooks are watching and when they get enough information to be half-way convincing they call grandma.” 

No matter how upset you are and no matter how much you love your grandchild, Barker advises you to ask questions that require information that is not in the public domain. 

“I know one person who shut off a fraudster by asking, ‘Which grandson are you?’ The guy replied, ‘This is your favorite grandson.’

That convinced the would-be victim to simply hang up.

“The fraudsters often call late at night,” Barker said. “You’re half asleep but you want to help and people can get taken for a lot of money that way.”

One way to make yourself less vulnerable to these kinds of scams is to shred old documents. For those who don’t have a shredder, call your local bank because banks will often have free shredding days where you can bring boxes of your old documents in for disposal. Shred old documents that contain personal information such as credit card numbers, Medicare numbers, insurance numbers and bank account numbers.

Barker also has some tips for relatives who want to protect their elderly loved ones.

“Encourage them not to be stampeded into anything,” said Barker. “Often, crooks will try to bully seniors with a get-rich-quick scheme.  Tell them to say, ‘Well, I want to think it over.’   The crook will often ask, ‘Why, can’t you make up your own mind?’  “Yes, I’ve just made up my mind. I’m not dealing with you.’”

People who receive suspicious phone calls are advised to hang up and report it to the Wisconsin SMP (Senior Medicare Patrol) by calling (800) 488-2596, extension 317.

 

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