How to Report a Medicare Scam Call

A call claiming to be from Medicare asks for your number or money. Here is how to spot it, protect your number, and report it.

A call comes in. The voice says it is Medicare, and there is a problem with your benefits. Maybe you owe money. Maybe a new card is waiting, if you just confirm your number first. None of that is how Medicare works. Here is how to spot the scam, protect your Medicare number, and file a Medicare fraud report that reaches the right place.

How to recognize a Medicare impersonation scam

The FTC says a government impersonation scam often starts with a call, email, text, or social media message. The person on the other end claims to be from Medicare or another agency. The FTC says scammers pretend to be from government agencies like the FTC, Social Security Administration, and IRS.

The FTC says these scammers might give you an employee ID number to sound official. They sometimes use fake agency names too, like the National Sweepstakes Bureau, which does not exist. The FBI says criminals pose as government employees and threaten arrest or prosecution unless victims pay.

The pressure is the tell. The FTC says these scammers contact you and say that, if you do not pay or give them your personal information, something bad will happen. Or they may say you will miss out on some government benefit. The FTC is plain about these calls: they are a scam.

Why scammers want your Medicare number

The FTC says Medicare impersonators want to steal your Medicare number and file fraudulent claims for benefits. Your number is worth money to them even if you never pay a cent.

Here is the part that makes the scam easy to spot. The FTC says Medicare sends its cards to you automatically for free, and you never have to do or pay anything. The FTC says government agencies will never call, email, text, or message you on social media to ask for money or personal information.

If you already gave your number away, the FTC says to call 1-800-MEDICARE to report anything suspicious. You did nothing wrong by answering a call.

What to do while the call is happening

If the call is a robocall, the FTC says do not press any numbers. Pressing numbers could lead to more calls.

The FTC also says caller ID can be faked, so it could be anyone calling from anywhere in the world. A screen that says "Medicare" proves nothing.

If you are not sure the call is real, you can call 1-800-MEDICARE yourself. The FTC says to use that number for questions about your benefits, Medicare number, or Medicare card, or to report anything suspicious. You can also learn more about Medicare fraud at medicare.gov.

If you are unsure whether an agency is real, the FTC says you can check the list of real federal agencies at usa.gov.

How to report Medicare fraud

Report it in these places:

1-800-MEDICARE. The FTC says to call this number to report anything suspicious about your Medicare benefits or card.
The FTC. The FTC says to report a government impersonation scam at ReportFraud.ftc.gov or to your state attorney general. If the scammer pretended to be from the FTC itself, the FTC says to report that at ReportFraud.ftc.gov too.
USAGov's tool. USAGov says you can answer a few questions to learn which agency can help with a scam and how to report it.

If the scam came by phone, you can also read how to report scam calls for the wider picture. If you kept the number that called you, see how to report a scam phone number. For a plain walkthrough of every reporting option, start with how can I report a scam.

What happens after you report

A report is not a dead end. The FTC says it can use scam reports to build cases against scammers. It can use them to educate the public. And it can use them to share data about what is happening in your community.

Even a report that feels small adds a piece.

Medicare scams during Open Enrollment

The FTC says health insurance scams happen all year but grow during Open Enrollment for Medicare and the Marketplace.

There is another trap here. The FTC says scammers and dishonest businesses sometimes pay to show up at the top of online search results. So the top result for a Medicare search may not be Medicare. Treat the top result as a lead, not a proof. Type the agency address yourself, or use the phone number you already trust.

The same playbook shows up in other calls. The FTC says scammers may claim you must pay a penalty for missing jury duty, and that this is most likely a scam. The FTC says calls, texts, or emails claiming you missed jury duty and must pay are scams meant to steal your money. Read more in our page on jury duty scam calls.

The rule underneath all of them is the same. Real agencies do not call to demand money or personal information. Hang up, report it, and let the agencies do their part.