{"id":52,"date":"2026-10-21T11:50:55","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T11:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trusthaveninsurance.com\/blog\/?p=52"},"modified":"2026-10-21T11:50:55","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T11:50:55","slug":"medicare-open-enrollment-scams-what-to-hang-up-on-and-who-to-call-instead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trusthaveninsurance.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/medicare-open-enrollment-scams-what-to-hang-up-on-and-who-to-call-instead\/","title":{"rendered":"Medicare Open Enrollment Scams: What to Hang Up On (and Who to Call Instead)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Why scammers love this time of year<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Medicare&#8217;s Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15 through December 7, and scammers know it. Millions of people are comparing plans, opening mail, and answering calls, which makes it easy for a fake &#8220;Medicare representative&#8221; to blend in. Their goal is simple: get your Medicare number, Social Security number, or bank information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The good news? Once you know the pattern, these scams are easy to spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What Medicare will and won&#8217;t do<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Medicare will not call, text, email, or message you on social media out of the blue to ask for your Medicare, Social Security, or bank account number.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Medicare will not try to sell you anything.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Medicare will not charge you for a &#8220;new&#8221; or &#8220;updated&#8221; card. Cards are free and are mailed to you automatically.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Medicare will not show up at your door.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If someone contacts you unexpectedly and does any of the above, it isn&#8217;t Medicare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Your quick safety checklist<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Don&#8217;t trust caller ID. Scammers can make a call look like it&#8217;s coming from Medicare.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Hang up, then call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) yourself to check.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Treat your Medicare number like your Social Security number or credit card.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Only share it with your doctors, pharmacies, and people you&#8217;ve chosen to work with.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Read your Medicare statements and look for services you never received.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Keep your card at home unless you have an appointment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The three mistakes I see most often<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Staying on the line to &#8220;be polite.&#8221;<\/strong> The longer you talk, the more pressure you feel. It&#8217;s okay to hang up.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Confirming &#8220;just a little&#8221; information.<\/strong> Even saying &#8220;yes, I have Part B&#8221; or reading the last four digits of a number gives a scammer something to work with.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Believing a &#8220;medical equipment claim&#8221; you don&#8217;t remember.<\/strong> Scammers use fake claims like back braces or test kits to get your number so they can bill Medicare in your name.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>If you already gave out your number<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Don&#8217;t panic or feel embarrassed. This happens to smart people every day. Call 1-800-MEDICARE and explain what happened, and watch your statements closely. You can also report scams to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Free help right here in Florida<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Florida&#8217;s SHINE program (Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elders) offers free, unbiased Medicare counseling, and its Senior Medicare Patrol helps people protect, detect, and report fraud. You can reach them at 1-800-96-ELDER (1-800-963-5337).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A simple rule to remember<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you didn&#8217;t ask for the call, you don&#8217;t owe them an answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I walk Southwest Florida clients through Medicare decisions at no cost to you. No pressure, just education. <a href=\"https:\/\/trusthaveninsurance.com\/contact\">Get My Free Consultation \u2192<\/a> <a href=\"mailto:info@trusthaveninsurance.com\">info@trusthaveninsurance.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessie A. Navalta, Owner\/Broker, TrustHaven Insurance Agency<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why scammers love this time of year Medicare&#8217;s Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15 through December 7, and scammers know [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trusthaveninsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trusthaveninsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trusthaveninsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trusthaveninsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trusthaveninsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trusthaveninsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53,"href":"https:\/\/trusthaveninsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions\/53"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trusthaveninsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trusthaveninsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trusthaveninsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}