Written by LCSO<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/scam.jpg\" "\\"scam\\"")
The Medicare Open Enrollment Period is now open, providing con-artists the perfect opportunity to trick seniors into unknowingly giving away personal and financial information. If you are a recipient of Medicare, the Lee County Sheriff\u2019s Office wants you to be aware of these unscrupulous scams:<\/p>\n
Scam: An \u201cofficial Medicare agent\u201d knocks on your door selling Medicare insurance that can save you thousands of dollars in healthcare costs next year. The offer is only good during Medicare\u2019s open enrollment period.<\/p>\n
Fact:\u00a0There are no Medicare sales representatives. If you haven\u2019t asked for an agent to contact you, federal law prohibits an agent from trying to sell you something on behalf of Medicare. If you receive unsolicited contact by phone, e-mail or a knock on your front door, you should report that person to authorities.<\/p>\n
Scam: You receive a call that says you must have a prescription drug coverage plan or you will lose your other Medicare benefits. If you don\u2019t join a plan during enrollment time, your Medicare benefits will be terminated.<\/p>\n
Fact:\u00a0If someone says you must join or you\u2019ll lose your other Medicare benefits, it\u2019s a scam. The Medicare prescription drug benefit is voluntarily. It supplements your other Medicare benefits.<\/p>\n
Scam: You receive a call from someone claiming you are due a $250 refund because you\u2019ve reached the prescription drug coverage gap known as the \u201cdonut hole\u201d. The caller asks for your birth date, Medicare number, and bank account information so the refund can be automatically deposited into your account.<\/p>\n
Fact:\u00a0Medicare will never call and ask for your Medicare number or other personal identifying information. Hang up and call 1-800-MEDICARE to report this fraudulent activity.<\/p>\n
Scam: You receive \u201cofficial looking\u201d brochures about new Medicare products that are available at a discounted price during Medicare open enrollment.<\/p>\n
Fact: Con artists try to impress consumers with sales materials made to look like they are from a government agency. Only private companies, not the government, sell Medicare Advantage and Medigap plans.<\/p>\n
In addition to reporting these scams to Medicare, you can also call the Sheriff\u2019s Office fraud line at 258-3292.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Written by LCSO The Medicare Open Enrollment Period is now open, providing con-artists the perfect opportunity to trick seniors into unknowingly giving away personal and financial information. If you are… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":41572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41571"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}