Recent reports indicate that a scam is currently targeting people with diabetes, and particularly older patients who have Medicare.
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According to The Morehead News, callers pretending to be from the government, Medicare or a fake diabetes association (such as the made-up “National Diabetes Association”) are contacting potential victims, offering “free” diabetes or other medical supplies. All the patient has to do is provide his or her Medicare number and personal or financial information.
These calls are scams. According to AARP, steps to protect yourself against these sorts of fraudulent schemes include putting your phone number on the FTC’s National Do Not Call Registry (which won’t stop scam calls, but will stop most legitimate telemarketers, making the fraudsters easier to identify), slowing down and asking questions, avoiding answering calls from unknown or unfamiliar numbers, and never giving personal or financial information to callers you don’t know.
For more on how to protect yourself against phone scams, visit the AARP website.
Want to learn more about diabetes money matters? Read “Social Security Benefits for Diabetes” and “Health Insurance for Diabetes Management.”
