Medicare Fraud: How to Protect Your Medicare Number and Spot Bad Charges

Medicare fraud costs taxpayers money and can leave false claims on your record. It often starts with an offer that sounds helpful: free equipment, a free genetic test, or a gift, in exchange for your Medicare number. This guide shows how to guard your number, check your statements for charges you don’t recognize, and report fraud. Checked October 25, 2026.

Common Medicare fraud schemes

• Free equipment or tests: a caller, website or health fair offers free braces, test kits or genetic tests if you share your Medicare number. The supplier then bills Medicare.
• Charges for care you never got: services, visits or supplies appear on your statement that you didn’t receive.
• “Card renewal” calls: someone says you need a new Medicare card and asks to confirm your number.
• Plan-switching pressure: callers pushing plan changes during enrollment season. See Health Insurance and Medicare Enrollment Scams.

Use Medicare’s 4Rs

1. Record your doctor appointments, tests and supplies on a calendar, and keep receipts.
2. Review your statements early. With Original Medicare, check your Medicare Summary Notice. With a Medicare Advantage or drug plan, check the statements your plan sends.
3. Report anything that looks wrong.
4. Remember to protect your card and number, and ask questions about your care.

You can see Original Medicare claims sooner by signing in to your secure account at Medicare.gov. Compare each claim with your calendar. If a charge looks wrong and you know the provider, call their office first, since it may be a simple billing error.

Where to report suspected fraud

• 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227, TTY 1-877-486-2048). Have your card and the statement ready.
• HHS Office of Inspector General: 1-800-HHS-TIPS (1-800-447-8477) or tips.oig.hhs.gov.
• Medicare Advantage or drug plan fraud: I-MEDIC at 1-877-7SAFERX (1-877-772-3379).
• Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP): free local help reviewing statements and reporting fraud. Find yours at smpresource.org or 1-877-808-2468.

If you gave your Medicare number to a scammer

1. Call 1-800-MEDICARE and explain what happened.
2. Watch your statements closely for the next several months.
3. If you also shared your Social Security or bank details, see Identity Theft Recovery.
4. Refuse any packages of medical supplies you didn’t order, and report the sender.

Helping a parent with Medicare

• Offer to review their statements with them each quarter. Their local SMP can help too.
• Agree that they won’t give their number to anyone who calls them.
• Watch the video guide Medicare Scams together.
• Set up call filtering. See Stop Scam Calls on a Parent’s Phone.

Quick checklist

• Medicare number shared only with your care team
• Appointments recorded on a calendar
• Statements reviewed when they arrive
• Medicare.gov account set up
• Local SMP number saved

Frequently asked questions

Will Medicare call me to ask for my number?
Be very wary of any unexpected caller asking for your Medicare number. Hang up and call 1-800-MEDICARE yourself.

Is a free genetic test ever legitimate?
Tests should be ordered by your own doctor. Offers from strangers at events, online or by phone are a common fraud scheme.

Will reporting fraud affect my benefits?
No. Reporting helps protect your benefits and Medicare as a whole.

Sources

• 4Rs for Fighting Medicare Fraud, Medicare.gov, accessed October 25, 2026
• Protecting Yourself From Fraud, Medicare.gov, accessed October 25, 2026