Scammers Are Profiting from the COVID-19 Pandemic

Scammers Are Profiting from the COVID-19 Pandemic
Scammers Are Profiting from the COVID-19 Pandemic
Posted by on May 28, 2020 in COVID-19, Fraud & Abuse

This is a WARNING from the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General:

Scammers are trying to profit from the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • They may show up at your door claiming to have tests for the disease.
  • They may send ๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ค๐™ก๐™ž๐™˜๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™š๐™™ text messages and say you were exposed to the virus.
  • They may call you and pretend your doctor sent them.

๐ˆ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐œ๐ž๐ฌ ๐˜๐Ž๐” ๐ƒ๐ˆ๐ƒ๐โ€™๐“ ๐€๐’๐Š ๐…๐Ž๐‘ โ€“ ๐๐„๐–๐€๐‘๐„! ๐ˆ๐ญ ๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐›๐ž ๐š ๐ฌ๐œ๐š๐ฆ. ๐‚๐ฅ๐จ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐๐จ๐จ๐ซ. ๐‡๐š๐ง๐  ๐ฎ๐ฉ. ๐ƒ๐จ๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฉ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ญ๐ž๐ฑ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐š๐ ๐ž.

Contact your medical provider immediately to verify anyone who claims to be reaching out on their behalf. If they state they are from ๐Œ๐ž๐๐ข๐œ๐š๐ซ๐ž or that you can use your ๐Œ๐ž๐๐ข๐œ๐š๐ซ๐ž to cover these tests, report this to our California Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) at 1-855-613-7080.ย #SMPwatchCOVID19

 

COVID-19 Fraud Alert

Scammers are trying to use the #COVID19 pandemic to scare you and steal your personal information. If someone offers you services YOU DID NOT ASK FOR โ€“ BEWARE! It could be a scam.

Posted by HHS Office of Inspector General on Friday, May 22, 2020

Karen Fletcher
Our blogger Karen J. Fletcher is CHA's publications consultant. She provides technical expertise, writing and research on Medicare, health disparities and other health care issues. With a Masters in Public Health from UC Berkeley, she serves in health advocacy as a trainer and consultant. See her current articles.

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