Second Set of Eyes Might Help Protect Seniors

The latest reports are that Medicare fraud is one of the most common crimes against older adults. But there is good news on that front.

A massive fake Medicare scheme that stole millions of dollars from the bank accounts of senior citizens has been stopped by a federal court at the request of the Federal Trade Commission. The telemarketing crooks pretended to be part of Medicare to gain the confidence of the seniors.

The FTC announced recently it seeks to permanently end the operation and return victims’ money. According to a complaint filed by the FTC, the defendants called consumers – including many whose numbers were listed on the National Do Not Call Registry – and said they were providing a new Medicare card or information about Medicare benefits.

 

The defendants allegedly misrepresented that they were working on behalf of Medicare, and said they needed to verify consumers’ identities using personal information that included their bank account numbers. The defendants allegedly assured consumers that the information would not be used to debit their bank accounts, and that there was no charge for the new Medicare card or information about Medicare benefits. However, within a few weeks, consumers learned their bank accounts had been debited either $399 or $448 via remotely created checks (RCCs), the complaint alleges. Despite these charges, consumers did not receive any kind of product or service from the defendants. In some instances, the defendants debited the accounts of consumers they had not even contacted.

To learn more about how you can protect older adults from fraud, go to ProtectSeniorsFromFraud.com. To learn more about Medicare fraud, visit http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2014/10/ftc-halts-fake-medicare-scheme-took-money-seniors-bank-accounts.

Consumer Scam Alert

Seniors should be on the alert for the latest scams against older adults. Phishing emails encouraging seniors to create a “my Social Security” account (used to check out Social Security statements or manage Social Security benefits online) are circulating; however, these emails are a scam, according to the Social Security Administration. Seniors and family caregivers in the U.S. should:

• Not click on links to set up a new account. Even though “my Social Security” is a relatively new service for
the public, the agency is not sending emails to generate enrollment.

• Links to Social Security websites will always begin with www.socialsecurity.gov/.

For additional tips on detecting fraudulent email, visit ssa.gov

New Social Security Service Target of Scammers

For those who receive benefits or have Medicare, “my Social Security” can help check estimates of your retirement, disability and survivor’s benefits, your earnings record, and the estimated Social Security and Medicare taxes you’ve paid.

However, you should be suspicious of any emails sent to you.

The my Social Security account is a recently released new service for the public, but the agency is not sending emails to generate enrollment. To open one of these personal accounts, citizens should go directly to my Social Security at http://www.ssa.gov/myaccount/. If you receive an email inviting you to join, do not click any links.

Criminals are using "phishing" emails encouraging senior citizens to create an account. Rest assured, any email promoting this are not coming from the agency, according to information from the Social Security Administration.

Here’s how to detect a fraudulent email message:

·         Any email coming from Social Security will come from an email address ending in “.gov”, although you should not trust the “From” address, since attackers can spoof this address.

·         Any email coming from Social Security will not have email addresses associated with private companies such as Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail, etc.

·         Look for poor word choice, phrasing, spelling or extra words that are not needed in the text.

·         Links to Social Security websites will always begin with http://www.socialsecurity.gov/ or https://secure.ssa.gov/ (the slash after ".gov" is important). For example, you should not trust a link that looks like this: http://www.socialsecurity.gov.bx.co.rx/setup. If you are suspicious of a link in an email, use your mouse to “hover over” the link to see the web address.

 

Please note: Members of the public who receive phishing emails should forward them to the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team at phishing-report@us-cert.gov.

To create an account on my Social Security, you must provide some personal information about yourself and give answers to some questions that only you are likely to know. Next, you create a username and password that you will use to access your online account. This process protects you and keeps your personal Social Security information private. Scammers are developing new ways every day to defraud seniors of their hard-earned money. To learn more about the Home Instead Senior Care network’s Protect Seniors from Fraud^SM program, go to ProtectSeniorsFromFraud.com.