Friday April 20, 2012
Please share this Fraud Alert with colleagues, consumers, or other professionals in your area. If you have any questions about the Illinois SMP program, or to receive these Fraud Alerts directly, please contact Erin Weir, Healthcare Consumer Protection Coordinator at AgeOptions.
This project was supported in part by grant numbers 90MP0026 and 90MP0127 from the U.S. Administration on Aging, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201. Grantees undertaking projects under government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official Administration on Aging policy.
Fraud In The News
The following are current news articles about health care and fraud issues.
Health Care Fraud:
1. “Woman Pleads Guilty to Health Care Fraud in Rockford Court” (Rockford Register Star): http://www.rrstar.com/updates/x1783280782/Woman-pleads-to-health-care-fraud-in-Rockford-court
2. “Father, Daughter From St. Louis Plead Guilty to Medicare Fraud” (KMOV.com): http://www.kmov.com/home/Father-daughter-from-St-Louis-plead-guilty-to-Medicare-fraud-148281545.html
3. Medicare to Expand Use of Competitive Bidding (Kaiser Health News): http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Daily-Reports/2012/April/19/competitive-bidding.aspx
Consumer Fraud:
4. “Lincoln Grandmother Scammed for $2,000, BBB Reports” (Lincoln Journal Star article about the Grandparents Scam): http://journalstar.com/business/local/lincoln-grandmother-scammed-for-bbb-reports/article_40c64c63-8b36-58d1-8950-7cdaccf8da54.html
5. “FTC Action Puts Robocallers Out of the Telemarketing Business” (FTC press release): http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/03/asiapacific.shtm
6. “FTC Case Against Deceptive Robocallers Leads to Record $30 Million in Civil Penalties” (FTC press release): http://ftc.gov/opa/2012/04/cashgrant.shtm /
Dear SMP readers,
This week’s Fraud Alert contains another warning about “Grandparents” scams, an announcement from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services about a new Administration for Community Living, and a video about information sharing from the Federal Trade Commission. We also have several interesting articles in “Fraud in the News.”
Have a great weekend!
What you will find in this week’s Fraud Alert
· Grandparents Scam Phone Calls Continue to be a Problem
· HHS Announces New Administration for Community Living
· FTC “Sharing Information” Video
Grandparents Scam Phone Calls Continue to be a Problem
The Illinois SMP program continues to hear hearing more report of the “Grandparents Scam” lately. In one report that we received this week, an older woman wired more than $14,000 to Mexico in less than 24 hours. She received a phone call from a man claiming to be a lawyer and saying that her grandson was in a car accident and needed money. The “lawyer” would occasionally put the “grandson” on the phone, who would plead with the grandmother to help him and not tell his parents. The “lawyer” placed 5 phone calls to the woman, asking her for more money each time. She wired money (between $2,000 and $3,000) all 5 times, for a grand total of $14,873.
The individuals perpetrating these scams have become quite savvy at triggering their victims’ emotions. If anyone receives a phone call from someone claiming to be a loved one, it is very important to verify that the call is real by contacting the loved one and/or another relative (such as the grandchild’s parents) first. If someone is asking for money to be wired to another country, the situation is very likely to be a scam, and once money has been wired, there is generally no way to get it back.
HHS Announces New Administration for Community Living
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced this week that the current Administrations on Aging, Disability, and Developmental Disabilities will be brought together under a new Administration for Community Living. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius says, “The Administration for Community Living will bring together the Administration on Aging, the Office on Disability and the Administration on Developmental Disabilities into a single agency that supports both cross-cutting initiatives and efforts focused on the unique needs of individual groups, such as children with developmental disabilities or seniors with dementia. This new agency will work on increasing access to community supports and achieving full community participation for people with disabilities and seniors.”
The full press release of this announcement is available here: http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2012pres/04/20120416a.html
FTC “Sharing Information” Video
The Federal Trade Commission created a very short (1 min 40 sec) video called “Sharing Information: A Day in Your Life” that reveals all of the ways we share information about ourselves in our daily activities. Watch the video here to learn about how such information is shared on a regular basis:
http://www.ftc.gov/multimedia/video/privacy.shtm
Erin Weir, MSW, LSW, Healthcare Consumer Protection Coordinator
AgeOptions
1048 Lake Street, Suite 300
Oak Park, IL 60301
phone (708)383-0258 fax (708)524-0870
ageoptions.org
AgeOptions, the Area Agency on Aging of Suburban Cook County, is committed to improving the quality of life and maintaining the dignity of older adults and those who care about them – through leadership and support, community partnerships, comprehensive services, accurate information and powerful advocacy.
Fraud Alerts contain information about current scams taking place in Illinois, announcements and updates about programs or services related to health care and/or fraud protection, and links to news articles about health care and fraud topics. Please forward any recommendations or announcements that you would like to be included in a future Fraud Alert to .