Scammers use promise of Medicare rebate checks to steal personal info

The Illinois Attorney General is warning that scammers are trying to trick Medicare-eligible seniors into revealing personal information in order to get a rebate check, The Associated Press reports. "The first $250 rebate checks are being mailed this week to seniors in Medicare's drug coverage gap, known as the 'doughnut hole.'" The checks are being sent out automatically, so any request for information is a con (6/10).

"Federal officials say they're already hearing reports that scam artists have called seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries, telling them they need to provide personal information to get the checks — including Medicare, Social Security or bank account numbers," the Chicago Sun-Times reports. "Not true. Seniors don't need to provide any personal information. The checks are being mailed automatically to eligible Medicare recipients" (Thomas and Knowles, 6/10).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.