Jul. 8—The packages arrived unbidden. The first contained orthotic braces — the kind a doctor would order. At first the delivery seemed to be a mistake, the wrong address perhaps.
Then came the COVID-19 tests — boxes and boxes of them, week after week.
A Nashua woman in her 90s recently found herself the target of scammers who prey on seniors by shipping them unsolicited, unneeded medical equipment — and then charging Medicare for it.
The evolving scam has been a nationwide problem for a few years, according to federal and state law enforcement agencies, and Granite Staters have not been spared.
The latest version involves sending COVID-19 tests to Medicare beneficiaries in New Hampshire. The U.S. Attorney's Office and Attorney General's Office recently issued an alert, warning consumers about the scam and urging them to report it.
A spokesperson for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said the agency is investigating consumer complaints about unsolicited COVID tests arriving in the mail and also is aware of fraudulent activity involving medical equipment.
It's not a victimless crime.
"Every taxpayer is harmed by it," said Jane Young, U.S. Attorney for New Hampshire.
Jay McCormack, first assistant U.S. attorney in Young's office, called it "a national phenomenon."
"Medicare has been billed hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions, since 2019," said McCormack, who previously worked in the health care fraud section at the Justice Department in Washington. "And it's still ongoing."
These sorts of health care fraud schemes are "always evolving," McCormack said.
A few years ago, the scammers were pushing pain creams and selling genetic testing and billing Medicare fraudulently, he said. Then came braces and COVID-19 tests.
"The product is like whack-a-mole," McCormack said. "It keeps changing."
But the scam is the same: "They inundate you with phone calls. They want to solicit your Medicare information and they use that for billing."
Scammers often pose as Medicare officials to get personal information out of victims, McCormack said. He's heard of cases in which people with amputations received braces — "for limbs they don't even have," he said.
"In wrongdoers' hands"
Brandon Garod, senior assistant attorney general in the Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau, said scams "happen in waves."
Typically, he said, "Scammers are trying to do something new that people aren't ready for. Once there's enough public awareness about one thing and people aren't falling for it, they move on to the next."
Scammers have two purposes, Garod said: "One is to gather information, and the other is to use that information in order to perpetrate the actual scam. "
"So in order to have a successful and convincing scam, in an age where everybody is on high alert for scams, they need to be convincing; they need to have some information about the person," he said.
That's why people get "phishing" emails and text messages appearing to be from reputable companies, he said. "They may not be asking for money but what they are trying to do is gather your personal information so that somebody later can use it in order to perpetrate a scam," he said.
The sobering reality is that medical equipment scammers "almost certainly" have their targets' Medicare numbers, Garod said.
"If you have that, combined with some other basic information — name, date of birth, Social Security number — it can be used to submit fraudulent reimbursement requests to Medicare."
These scams amount to identity theft, Garod said. "If you received that piece of equipment or COVID tests and you didn't order it, that means somebody out there has sufficient information about you that they can pretend to be you and convince Medicare or Medicaid to pay for this equipment," he said.
"There are potential long-term ramifications," he said.
Sometimes people may unwittingly provide their Medicare or Medicaid number; other times, that information may be compromised in a data breach, Garod said. "And now it's in the hands of wrongdoers."
"This is fraud"
The braces and COVID-19 tests sent to the Nashua senior came in packages with return addresses in Florida.
The tests were from Sun Health in Hudson, Florida. The braces were from "24WeCare" Inc. in St. Petersburg.
The Better Business Bureau has issued an alert about a company called Progressive Supplies STAT LLC at the same address in Hudson, Florida — listed with an alternate business name of Sun Health. The BBB gives the company an "F" (lowest) rating and states, "This business is not BBB accredited."
Numerous consumer complaints are posted on bbb.org about the company sending unsolicited braces and COVID tests.
One consumer wrote on March 28 that COVID tests were being shipped monthly "to my deceased mother's address ..."
Another posted on May 10: "We are a retirement community. We began receiving COVID test kits for a resident that did not order them and no longer lives here. They are arriving weekly. We need this to stop!"
And on June 5: "I received medical arm braces in the mail that I did not authorize. There is nothing wrong with my arms. This is fraud. I'm a Senior."
The BBB notes that it contacted the business about the complaints but "to date no reply has been received."
The website listed for Progressive Supplies has been taken down. When a reporter called the Florida number listed on bbb.org, asking to speak with someone about the COVID tests, the person who answered hung up. When the reporter called back, no one answered.
A company called 24WeCare Inc. also received an "F" rating from the BBB for "failure to have a required competency license."
"Worth the time to report"
Experts say the best way to combat such scams is to report any unsolicited medical equipment or tests immediately.
However, these kinds of Medicare scams often go unreported, according to Christina FitzPatrick, state director at AARP.
"That's true of fraud in general," she said. "People are really ashamed to have been a victim of fraud."
Falling prey to such a scam doesn't mean you're stupid, FitzPatrick said. "These scammers are really good," she said.
"If they can get somebody to give up their Medicare number, these scammers can use that information in two ways," FitzPatrick said. "They can bill Medicare in the name of this person. They can also use it to steal somebody's identity."
That's not the only risk.
Not reporting the fraud also can affect the Medicare beneficiary down the road. "Certain devices, you can only get one every two years and you can't replace it more frequently than that," FitzPatrick said.
So if a scammer bills Medicare for a leg brace or a walker that someone didn't need or order, "it can affect your future treatment," she said.
Seniors should never give out their Medicare numbers to anyone but trusted medical providers, FitzPatrick said. "If somebody calls you on the phone and asks you to verify your number, you just shouldn't do that," she said. "Medicare's never going to call you."
It's "very, very challenging" to bring such scammers to justice, Garod admitted. That makes it all the more important for people to report any unwanted medical products, he said.
"Our best weapon is awareness," said the assistant AG. "Because if people are aware, and people stop providing information and people stop receiving money, these scams will go away. The only reason they exist is because people keep falling for them."
"If you don't report this as fraudulent, especially to Medicare, it's probably going to keep happening. And that could potentially have really serious ramifications for the person or society collectively," Garod said.
"Even if it's not personally financially affecting the individual that receives the tests or the equipment, they should be bothered enough that somebody is impersonating them, somebody out in the world is pretending to be them, and it's worth the time to make the report to all the appropriate authorities."
Impact on premiums
It's also important to let Medicare know if you think your information has been used for fraudulent billing, AARP's FitzPatrick said.
The CMS spokesperson said the agency will notify a beneficiary if it has been determined that their Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) has been compromised and will replace a beneficiary's Medicare card with a new MBI.
In the end, everyone pays for these scams, FitzPatrick said. "It hurts the Medicare program," she said. "It directly costs the Medicare program money and that does affect all of us. It means the Medicare premiums have to be higher."
Caregivers for seniors also should keep a watchful eye and report any equipment, including COVID tests, that were not ordered by a health care provider, U.S. Attorney Young said.
"We all have a responsibility: When we see something, say something," Young said.
It's also important to review your Medicare benefit statement when it comes, advocates say.
"Report anything that is not accurate," FitzPatrick said. "It could be a mistake — but it could be fraud."
"And either way, you want to correct it."
Any time someone calls asking for personal information such as your Medicare number or Social Security number, assume it's a scam, Garod said.
"Which is an unfortunate reality, but it's the reality we're living in," he said. "You want to be able to trust everyone, but the default has to be: 'This is a scam.'"
—If you suspect you've been a victim of a health care scam, file a consumer complaint at www.doj.nh.gov/consumer, or call the AG's consumer protection hotline: 1-888-468-4454 or (603) 271-3641. The hotline is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
—People with Medicare who receive any items they did not order, including COVID-19 test kits or durable medical equipment (DME) such as braces, should call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) and report it. They should also contact Medicare if they suspect someone is using their Medicare number.
swickham@unionleader.comwere
