Montana Senior Medicare Patrol is warning people to be on the lookout for a possible new Medicare scam

Havre Daily News staff

The patrol said in its newsletter that this week its staff received a yet unsubstantiated claim that someone on Medicare received a call from “Medicare Insurance Company.” The caller stated that every Medicare beneficiary is getting a new plastic chip-embedded card mailed to them and they just needed to verify their Medicare number.

“Please remember that Medicare will never call and ask for personal information over the phone,” the article in the newsletter said. “If you instigate a call where you know who you are calling, such as 1-800- MEDICARE, they will need your Medicare number and birthdate, among other things, in order to help you. However, they will not instigate a call where they ask for personal information.”

“If you receive a call asking you for personal information, whether it be from Medicare or any source, always err on the side of caution. If something is urgent it probably isn’t legitimate,” the article continues. “Gather more information and hang up. Never call the number back that was given, but rather look the number up independently either in a phone book or on the internet.”

The article concludes that people who are very suspicious and want to know if the caller was legitimate, or if they gave out personal information and it has to do with health care, can their local Montana Senior Medicare Patrol at 1-800-551-3191.