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  Geebo 8:00 am on April 30, 2024 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: healthcare ( 39 ), hospice ( 2 ), medical fraud, medicare ( 17 ), Scams ( 1,354 )   

  Scammers prey on the elderly with hospice care fraud 

  

  By Greg Collier

  The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a stark warning about a disturbing trend in Medicare fraud involving the enrollment of unsuspecting individuals into hospice care, often without their knowledge or consent.

  Reports flooding into the FBI’s Houston office paint a troubling picture of scammers manipulating the healthcare system for their financial gain. The FBI says they have received a significant uptick in complaints.

  What sets this scam apart is its brazen exploitation of individuals nearing the end of their lives. Scammers, masquerading as healthcare providers, are enrolling predominantly elderly victims into hospice care unnecessarily. The repercussions are grave, both financially and medically, as victims find themselves saddled with exorbitant bills for services they neither wanted nor needed.

  The consequences extend beyond financial strain. Victims may experience delays or denials of essential medical care due to being erroneously enrolled in hospice. As the FBI emphasizes, this fraudulent activity can have dire, potentially life-threatening consequences, depriving individuals of timely access to vital healthcare services.

  Unraveling the intricate web of deceit reveals a network of collaborators complicit in this exploitation. Behind the scenes, unscrupulous healthcare providers, often aided by complicit physicians and recruiters posing as legitimate marketers or sales representatives, orchestrate these fraudulent enrollments.

  The FBI offers practical advice to shield yourself or a loved one from falling victim to such scams. If an unfamiliar caller solicits sensitive details, refrain from divulging any information or confirming existing data. Remember, legitimate healthcare providers will not initiate contact in such a manner.

  Telemarketing calls can serve as a gateway for fraudsters. If you receive an unsolicited call regarding healthcare services, exercise caution and promptly disconnect the call.

  By heeding the FBI’s cautionary advice, we can collectively combat Medicare fraud and safeguard the well-being of our communities’ most vulnerable members.

   

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  Geebo 8:00 am on March 31, 2020 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Corona Antivirus, coronavirus ( 40 ), covid-19 ( 48 ), malware ( 26 ), medical fraud, medical scams ( 21 ), police scam ( 37 ), quarantine, Scams ( 1,354 )   

  Kickbacks and more coronavirus scams 

  

  We thought by now that we might be seeing a decline in new scams related to the coronavirus pandemic but we are woefully mistaken. With more recent news, it seems like the scams are still on the rise.

  Medical fraud is one of the more common scams in the United States. Often, many dishonest medical providers will order unnecessary tests in order to either defraud healthcare insurance carriers or get kickbacks from the testing facilities. A Georgia man who ran a marketing company was recently arrested by the FBI for accepting kickbacks from medical testing companies for referring people to these companies to get unnecessary covid-19 testing. We keep hearing about how testing materials are scarce and are only available for the worst cases yet here is a man wasting them for the sake of greed.

  If this next scam didn’t involve covid-19 it might have almost been funny. However, leading antimalware maker Malwarebytes is reporting that there is a fake app out there calling itself ‘Corona Antivirus’. The fake app claims that if you install this app on your computer it will protect you from the actual coronavirus. If only it were that easy. Corona Antivirus is actually a piece of malware that could do a number of unpleasant things to your device.

  In the state of Washington, at least one police department is warning residents of a quarantine scam. Residents there have complained they’ve been getting calls from someone claiming to be the local police. The scammer tells the victim that they’ve been reported for violating the quarantine and must pay a fine over the phone before asking for your financial information. Police will never call you to ask you to pay for a fine over the phone.

  If you see images on social media that look like tweets from President Obama or President Trump stating that you’re eligible for $1,000 from PayPal, it’s a fake. The images had been circulating on Instagram before the accounts posting the images were pulled. Neither PayPal nor any other payment app is offering free money.

  In Illinois, a woman had her home robbed after she let a man into her house claiming to be an inspector. The man claimed he was a plumber and said he needed to check the water because people in the area contracted covid-19 form the water supply. The CDC states that covid-19 has not been detected in drinking water.

  Lastly. we’d like to remind you that if you’re receiving a coronavirus relief payment, you do not have to sign up for anything. If you filed your taxes for 2018 or 2019 and received your refund through direct deposit, the relief payment will be deposited into the bank account that the IRS has on file. There is nothing anyone can do to make the payment get to you faster. So if someone claims that they can get you the payment faster, they’re trying to scam you. Please do not give out any of your financial information to people you don’t know.

  Again, this has become a boom period for scammers. Don’t let the fear of coronavirus push you into making bad decisions that could cost you later.

  [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdZxXMqTi9g%5D