The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has been made aware of information involving groups of individuals who are engaged in a scheme to commit tax refund fraud using the stolen identities of Medicare beneficiaries.
According to information received, individuals are obtaining the identities of beneficiaries through employers, schools, hospitals, and prisons. Typically, the information stolen is the beneficiary’s name, Social Security Number, address, and date of birth.
The individuals use a beneficiary’s information to electronically file (e.g. Turbo Tax) a fraudulent tax claim. The tax refund is loaded onto a Green Dot Card, which is a prepaid MasterCard or Visa debit card. The true taxpayer is not aware of the scam until they are rejected when they attempt to file their taxes. Due to the allegation of tax fraud, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Secret Service, FBI, and Postal Inspection Service are involved in the investigation of these reported cases.
This type of scam is a growing problem in the central Florida area and is believed to be shifting nationwide. If you identify compromised beneficiaries or have information related to this scheme, take the appropriate actions to protect Medicare beneficiaries and contact Health Integrity, the National Benefit Integrity Medicare Drug Integrity Contractor (NBI MEDIC) at 1-877-7SAFERX.
Fraud Alert
Important information from CMS -
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has been made aware of information involving groups of individuals who are engaged in a scheme to commit tax refund fraud using the stolen identities of Medicare beneficiaries.
According to information received, individuals are obtaining the identities of beneficiaries through employers, schools, hospitals, and prisons. Typically, the information stolen is the beneficiary’s name, Social Security Number, address, and date of birth.
The individuals use a beneficiary’s information to electronically file (e.g. Turbo Tax) a fraudulent tax claim. The tax refund is loaded onto a Green Dot Card, which is a prepaid MasterCard or Visa debit card. The true taxpayer is not aware of the scam until they are rejected when they attempt to file their taxes. Due to the allegation of tax fraud, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Secret Service, FBI, and Postal Inspection Service are involved in the investigation of these reported cases.
This type of scam is a growing problem in the central Florida area and is believed to be shifting nationwide. If you identify compromised beneficiaries or have information related to this scheme, take the appropriate actions to protect Medicare beneficiaries and contact Health Integrity, the National Benefit Integrity Medicare Drug Integrity Contractor (NBI MEDIC) at 1-877-7SAFERX.