Green Oak Township

$299 Ring Scam General Information

Medicare Beneficiaries Urged to be on the Look-out for Phone Scams The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) warns seniors and people with disabilities to be aware of a scheme that asks Medicare beneficiaries for money and checking account information to help them enroll in a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan. This scheme is called the "$299 Ring" for the typical amount of money Medicare beneficiaries are talked into withdrawing from their checking accounts to pay for a nonexistent prescription drug plan. Consumers can report these cases to their local law enforcement agencies or 1 -877-7SAFERX (1-877-772-3379). Please find the CMS Consumer Alert for your external distribution to find our more information on this alert.
$299 Ring Scam General Information

CMS-Warns Medicare Beneficiaries about New Prescription Drug Benefit Scam CMS on Friday June 16, 2006 warned Medicare beneficiaries of increased reports of a telephone scam in which callers claim to sell prescription drug plans, the South Florida Su reports. The scam is similar to the '$299 ring," in which callers attempt to obtain bank account, Medicare or Social Security numbers from beneficiaries and claim to sell a prescription drug plan for $299, In the new scam, callers claim to sell a new form of the Medicare prescription drug plan for $379, $365 or $350 (LaMendola, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 6/17). In some cases, callers claim that the drug plans are from fictitious companies with names such as Pharma, National Medical Office, Medicare National Office and National Medicare (CQ HealthBeat, 6/16). CMS has referred almost 250 cases of the scam to law enforcement agencies (Miami Herald, 6/18). CMS spokesperson Peter Ashkenaz said, "The more awareness that we can raise about these kinds of scams, the better the protections are for beneficiaries" (CQ HealthBeat, 6/16). CMS also said that beneficiaries should not provide bank account or Medicare numbers to callers unless they initiated the contact. According to CMS, legitimate Medicare drug plans will not send representatives to the homes of beneficiaries without an invitation or ask for payment over the telephone or Internet. Medicare beneficiaries should ask drug plans to mail bills, CMS said (South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 6/17). br>