Medicare scam calls: what to do when someone calls claiming to be Medicare

Every year, from October 15 through December 7, Medicare's open enrollment window opens — and so does the busiest season for Medicare-impersonation scams. Real mail arrives about plan changes. Real ads run on television. Somewhere in that noise, a phone rings, and a caller says they're from Medicare, that a new card needs to be issued, that a plan needs to be "verified," or that free equipment is waiting and just needs a number to confirm eligibility. It sounds plausible precisely because open enrollment makes Medicare-related calls feel normal for a few weeks a year. That normalcy is the opening the scam is built to use.

The one fact that ends the call immediately

Caller ID can be faked to display "Medicare" or a Washington, D.C. area code convincingly — that alone proves nothing about who's actually calling. The rule that matters isn't about how official the call sounds. It's that Medicare simply doesn't initiate this kind of call in the first place. If a parent didn't call them first, or isn't in the middle of an already-started conversation with their plan, an inbound call claiming to be Medicare gets treated as a scam by default.

What the MBI number actually lets a scammer do

The number printed on a Medicare card — the Medicare Beneficiary Identifier, or MBI — looks harmless to hand over, especially framed as a routine "verification." It isn't. An MBI lets someone fraudulently bill Medicare directly for equipment, genetic tests, back braces, or services a beneficiary never received and never ordered. The scam doesn't need a bank account number or a password at all — the MBI functions as the key to billing the program itself, which is exactly why it gets asked for so casually, disguised as paperwork instead of a financial request.

This is part of why Medicare scams don't always feel like "money" scams to the person targeted. Nothing is asked to be paid. A number is simply requested, in a tone that sounds administrative rather than urgent — which is precisely what makes it easy to hand over without a second thought.

Scripts to recognize

• The "new card" call. A caller says a new plastic or metal Medicare card is being issued and needs the current MBI to process it. Medicare does not require this. A real reissued card is mailed automatically.
• The "free" offer. Genetic testing kits, back braces, knee braces, or COVID-related supplies are offered "at no cost" — the only ask is a Medicare number to bill it to. This is one of the most common vehicles for MBI theft precisely because nothing is asked to be paid up front.
• The open-enrollment "verification" call. During the Oct 15–Dec 7 window specifically, a caller claims a current plan needs to be "reverified" or will be cancelled without confirmation of a Medicare number and date of birth.
• The fake plan-switch pressure call. A caller pushes an urgent, limited-time plan switch that needs to be decided on the call itself. Legitimate plan comparisons never require a decision in the same phone call they're pitched in.

What legitimate Medicare contact actually looks like

Real Medicare communication has a predictable, boring shape that scam calls almost never bother to imitate, because the imitation would slow the scam down: it arrives by mail first, gives time to review and call back on a number pulled independently from Medicare.gov or the back of the card, and never requires an on-the-spot decision or number recitation to keep a benefit active. If a plan's customer service line ever needs to be called, the number printed on the physical Medicare or plan card is the one to use — never a callback number offered by the person who just called first.

It's also worth treating the MBI the way a Social Security number would be treated, not the way a loyalty-card number would be: not read aloud to unsolicited callers, not carried in a wallet day-to-day unless an appointment specifically requires it, and not texted or emailed to anyone, ever. A yearly check of the Medicare Summary Notice — the statement listing what's been billed to the account — is one of the few genuinely useful habits here, since it's often how fraudulent billing on a stolen MBI first surfaces: as a charge for equipment or a test that never happened.

Why this sits inside a much bigger pattern

Government and agency impersonation is a subset of the broader imposter-scam category, which was the single most-reported fraud type in 2025 — roughly one in three fraud reports, totaling $3.5 billion in reported losses. Adults 60 and older, the population Medicare serves almost entirely, reported $2.4 billion in fraud losses in 2024, roughly four times the 2020 figure, with losses of $100,000 or more making up 68% of that total. Because most fraud goes unreported, the FTC estimates the true 2024 figure for older adults could be as high as $81.5 billion. Medicare-specific scams don't show up as their own separate line in that data, but they sit squarely inside the imposter-scam pattern driving it — which is also covered in more detail in why scammers ask for gift cards, the payment-method version of the same government-impersonation playbook.

What to say on the call

That's the entire response. It doesn't require identifying which specific scam script is being run, arguing with the caller, or being polite about ending the call. Hanging up mid-sentence is an acceptable response to an unsolicited call asking for a Medicare number — a real representative, if one is ever needed, will still be reachable through the number printed on the back of the actual card or at 1-800-MEDICARE.

How to report a Medicare scam call

• 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) — the direct line to report suspected fraud or verify whether a call was legitimate.
• Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) — a federally supported program that specializes specifically in Medicare fraud, waste, and abuse, with local offices that help beneficiaries file reports and review suspicious billing on their Medicare statements.
• ReportFraud.ftc.gov or 1-877-382-4357 — feeds the call and script pattern into federal fraud tracking.
• DOJ National Elder Fraud Hotline: 833-372-8311 — free, and specifically set up to help adults 60 and older navigate next steps after any kind of fraud contact.
• AARP Fraud Watch Helpline: 877-908-3360 — free to anyone, not just AARP members, weekdays 8am–8pm ET.

Reporting matters even when nothing was given up. A description of the script, the number that called, and the timing helps these programs track and shut down active campaigns — and it's worth doing every single time, not just after a loss. If a number was already shared, the response looks the same as for any other scam: see the first 10 minutes after a parent gets scammed for the exact next steps.