St. Charles Health System patients have received phone calls from criminals identifying themselves as either St. Charles caregivers or Medicare officials in an effort to get valuable information like Medicare and Social Security numbers. The caller ID may appear as a St. Charles number. Falsifying a caller ID number in this way is known as “spoofing,” and unfortunately, St. Charles cannot prevent this type of criminal activity. The health system is asking the public to be cautious about ever giving medical or insurance information over the phone.
Those who suspect a caller is falsely representing St. Charles should hang up and call their St. Charles provider’s office to find out if they need information. Individuals who believe they have been a victim of any kind of phone scam should consider reporting it. The Federal Trade Commission is the primary government agency that collects scam complaints and can be contacted one of two ways:
- Online: https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/
- By phone: 1-877-382-4357
To report suspected Medicare fraud, call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227).
There are also two ways to report caller ID spoofing to the Federal Communications Commission:
- Online: https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us
- By Phone: 1-888-225-5322
Those who have been a victim of identity theft should visit https://identitytheft.gov/ for information on how to report it.
To learn more about how to spot and avoid Medicare scams or scams in general visit, https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2019/03/protect-yourself-against-medicare-scams
