‘Never heard of it,’ warns customer who got ‘phantom bills’ from labs that didn’t exist -but health insurance still paid | 959713O | 2024-05-01 19:08:01
'Never heard of it,' warns customer who got 'phantom bills' from labs that didn't exist -but health insurance still paid | 959713O | 2024-05-01 19:08:01
SCAMMERS have been targeting people's medical information to get a major payout from health insurance companies.
Leo Danielides, a resident of Illinois, realized he had become the latest victim of phantom billing, after noticing a small detail on a letter from his insurance company.
"It was a LabCorp bill from a place called Aman Labscorp. And I never heard of it," Danielides told local NBC affiliate WMAQ-TV.
"I think it's called 'Labscorp versus 'Labcorp,'"
In an explanation of benefits letter, his insurance revealed they paid for multiple COVID-19 tests from the company.
The victim claimed that his insurance was billed nine times for these tests.
However, Danielides never utilized that service, and his doctor's office has confirmed they never used Aman Labscorb before.
Aman Labscorp refused to comment on the situation to the station and was revealed to have only a virtual address.
BlueCross BlueShield, who is Danielides' insurance company, believes the lab is "part of a nationwide COVID-19 testing fraud scheme," in a statement to WMAQ-TV.
Phantom billing allows people to be billed for a service or supplies they never received.
"What we saw after that point is more private insurers being billed, private insurers who've decided to continue to cover at-home test kits being billed again for tests that weren't ordered or tests that were never received at all," Todd Kossow with the Federal Trade Commission said.
If this is left unchecked, victims of this scam can end up with higher insurance costs over time.
<!-- End of Brightcove Player --> After reaching out to his insurance company, Danielides was finally able to stop the payments from going through.
"I would just say from a lesson learned to the consumers is really look at those, at your bills, look at your explanation of benefits, look at what's coming through," Danielides said.
A RISE IN MEDICARE SCAMS
Throughout the country, scammers are going above and beyond to steal from unsuspecting people.
Most recently there has been an uptick of people posing as medicare representatives to get people to reveal important information.
</div> </div> "Bad actors may spoof the number that appears on your caller ID so that an incoming call seems to be from a government agency or a health provider that you already know and trust," the FCC said in a blog post.
These people will often appear friendly and do what they can to mimic real medicare agents.
"When you pick up, a scam caller usually starts chatting you up to engage you, asking you conversational questions to put you at ease," the FCC revealed.
"Whatever scam scenario follows, the caller is trying to get your personal information, such as your Medicare card number, your Social Security Number, or other health insurance identification," the agency added.
However, Medicare would never operate this way and ask for such private information.
To protect yourself, the FCC recommends people keep their information to themselves.
"Never give your Medicare card, Medicare Number, Social Security card, or Social Security Number to anyone except your doctor or people you know should have it (like insurers acting on your behalf or people who work with Medicare, like your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP)," the FCC noted.
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