Why Fall Is Peak Season for This Scam
Scammers impersonating Medicare or health insurance providers are active year-round, but especially during the open enrollment period, which typically runs from mid-October through early December. This is precisely when beneficiaries are already expecting phone calls, reviewing their plans, and paying close attention to any communication that mentions their coverage.
October marks both Cybersecurity Awareness Month and the beginning of Medicare Open Enrollment, creating a perfect storm for scammers who prey on seniors navigating healthcare decisions. The timing is not accidental. Fraudsters study the calendar the same way legitimate businesses do.
Medicare scam calls typically spike during the open enrollment period, which spans from October 15 to December 7 each year. During open enrollment, more people contact Medicare, making it easier to mistake a scammer for a Medicare representative, especially if a beneficiary is expecting a return call.
How Big the Problem Actually Is
According to the Federal Trade Commission, consumers reported losing more than $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024, which represents a 25% increase over the prior year. The numbers have continued climbing. Across all forms of fraud, consumers reported approximately $16 billion in losses during 2025, a 25% increase from the previous year.
According to data from the FTC, the nation’s primary consumer protection agency received over 375,000 reports of government impersonation scams in 2025 alone, with total consumer losses topping $900 million. Medicare impersonation is consistently among the most frequently reported categories within that group.
Older adults carry a disproportionate share of the damage: the FBI logged more than $7.7 billion in losses from victims aged 60 and over in 2025, a 37 percent jump, averaging above $38,000 each. These are not small, forgettable losses. For many retirees on fixed incomes, they can be devastating.
The Script They Use on the Call
Scammers create a scenario that suggests urgency: “Your Medicare card is expiring,” or “We need to update your account to avoid service disruption.” This sets up the psychological pressure to comply. The goal is to make you feel like hanging up would cost you something.
The caller introduces themselves as a “certified Medicare advisor,” a “benefits specialist,” or claims to represent a “national Medicare database.” They tell you your current plan is being discontinued, that your area is losing coverage, or that a better plan is available, but only if you act today.
The initial part of the phone call may be a computer robot that can engage you in a very human way. The robot’s job is to get someone screened to speak with a live person. Once you get to the live person, the scam starts. They often tell you they will connect you to a “licensed agent” but must get your personal information first to verify your eligibility. There is no licensed agent.
The “New Card” Hook
In a Medicare card scam, attackers claim that the federal health insurance program is issuing new cards. This particular angle has been circulating in various forms for years, and it keeps working because it sounds plausible. After all, cards do get updated, credentials do change. The framing feels routine.
The impostor scammers call people up, asking for their Medicare number so they can help order them new plastic cards. The only problem is that Medicare cards are paper, and the agency says it has no plans to offer plastic cards. Anyone claiming otherwise is lying.
Medicare will not call you, does not need you to verify your number because they already have it, and is not sending out new cards to beneficiaries. That one fact alone is enough to disqualify nearly every “new card” call that lands in a senior’s inbox.
How They Make the Call Look Legitimate
Scammers often use caller ID spoofing to mask their identity. Your phone might display the official Medicare phone number, a local area code, or even a number that belongs to a real government agency. None of it can be trusted at face value.
Older adults might be less familiar with new phone-scam techniques like caller ID spoofing, robocalls, and voice cloning, and may assume calls labeled “Medicare” are legitimate. The tricky part is that scammers can sound very professional and persuasive over the phone. Increasingly, they also use technology like AI to create convincing websites, emails, and print materials that appear to be from trustworthy organizations.
Some criminals running Medicare scams even go the extra mile to make themselves sound more legitimate. They may collect some basic personal information about their victim before calling, such as their name or date of birth. Hearing your own name used correctly on an unsolicited call can lower your guard faster than almost anything else.
What They’re Really After
Most calls claiming to be from Medicare are after one of two things: your Medicare number, which can be used to bill for equipment or services you never received, or your bank information, which gets used directly. Both outcomes can cause serious, lasting financial damage.
They may even threaten to terminate your Medicare benefits. When they get your personal information, they use it to bill Medicare for services or supplies you never received, or they may steal your identity entirely to commit other crimes.
The scammers want a person’s information in order to either steal their identity or trick the individual into giving as much money as they can. During these calls, the scammers may try to acquire a Social Security number, bank account information, credit card number, full name, full address, and maiden name. Every piece of information handed over becomes another tool in their arsenal.
Who Gets Targeted and Why
As the number of Americans on Medicare continues to grow, with more than 69 million people currently enrolled, these schemes have a larger pool of potential victims. The math is straightforward: more beneficiaries means more people to call.
Older people are disproportionately targeted by fraudulent telemarketers and make up roughly four-fifths of victims affected by telemarketing scams alone. Many adults on Medicare may have a fixed income and feel pressure to preserve benefits, so scam calls threatening benefit loss are particularly effective.
Reports from adults 60 and older losing $10,000 or more to business and government imposter scams increased more than fourfold between 2020 and 2024, with phone calls as the contact method in more than two-fifths of cases. The phone remains the primary weapon of choice, even as other channels grow.
Red Flags That Give a Scam Call Away
The caller creates urgency, pushing you to act immediately instead of letting you hang up and call back. The caller asks you to confirm information they should already have if they were really calling from Medicare. The offer sounds too easy, like a free brace or genetic test with no doctor visit involved.
If the person calling shows signs of frustration, anger, or aggressiveness, you can be sure this is a scam caller. An actual Medicare employee will never have reason to become frustrated or upset with you for withholding personal information, and they will never contact you repeatedly.
Your voice’s “Yes” can even be used as a sort of passcode to give scammers access to other information systems. So they’ll try to get you to answer a simple question with a “Yes” response. Be cautious about answering yes or no to any question from an unverified caller claiming to represent Medicare.
The One Rule That Stops Most Scams
Medicare will never contact anyone for their Medicare number or other personal information unless you’ve given them permission in advance, according to a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services spokesperson. This is the clearest, most reliable rule available, and it applies to virtually every scenario a scammer might construct.
Medicare and Social Security will never unexpectedly call you to obtain information. Should either organization need to contact you, they will generally send a letter to notify you first. A letter in the mail, not a voice on the phone, is how official Medicare communication actually works.
Real Medicare will never call you asking to confirm your Medicare number, Social Security number, or bank information. If a call is pushing you to give that information over the phone, that alone is the sign that something is wrong. Hang up. No polite explanation is required.
How to Report It and Protect Yourself
The FTC and AARP both say that if someone calls you claiming to be from Medicare and asks for your Social Security number or your bank information to get your new card or new benefits, that is a scam, and you should hang up immediately. Speed matters here. The longer the conversation continues, the more psychological pressure builds.
If you believe you’ve been scammed, you can call 1-800-MEDICARE to report the incident and check for fraudulent claims, contact your bank and credit card companies if you provided financial information, and file a complaint with the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. You can also report to your state’s Senior Medicare Patrol, which specifically investigates Medicare fraud, by visiting smpresource.org.
As part of the Justice Department’s National Health Care Fraud Takedown, prosecutors have charged hundreds of defendants in cases involving billions in alleged fraud. Reporting matters. Every complaint filed adds to the data that investigators use to track patterns and pursue prosecutions.
The Takeaway
The call comes in every fall, reliable as the weather changing. It’s polished, it’s urgent, and it’s designed to make you feel like you don’t have time to stop and think. But thinking for just a moment is exactly what these scammers are counting on you not to do.
The single most protective habit any Medicare beneficiary or family member can build is simple: if the call is unexpected and someone asks for your Medicare number, Social Security number, or bank information, end the call. Then dial 1-800-MEDICARE directly if you want to confirm anything. Real agencies send letters. Real employees don’t pressure you. The calls that do pressure you are telling you everything you need to know.
AI Disclaimer: This article was created with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed by a human editor.