Medicare-related phone calls are piling up for older Americans as open enrollment runs toward its Dec. 7 deadline. One recent retiree on the national Do Not Call list says she gets more than a dozen in a single day. AARP’s fraud team says the real Medicare program does not phone people to ask for a Medicare number, and more than 40 health systems have warned patients about a fake “MyChart Medicare Kit” message.

Delores Reed, who retired recently, told a Scripps News consumer report that the calls keep coming even though her number is on the registry. Callers never say who they represent. “I personally think they are a scam,” Reed said. She added that she believes “they are picking out seniors to target,” and her message to the callers was simple: “I would like you to not call me again please.”

What the callers ask for

Amy Nofziger, senior director of victim support for the AARP Fraud Watch Network, gave the plainest test in the 10News report. “Medicare knows your Medicare number,” she said. A real Medicare representative will not call, text or email to have someone confirm it.

Other warning signs, according to Nofziger, include an offer of a new or upgraded Medicare card, and promises of free gifts, genetic testing or medical equipment. A doctor, she noted, would be the one to order any equipment. Some callers try to pry loose a number by citing incomplete benefit information, and others simply promise free benefits.

Anyone who already read a Medicare number to one of these callers should phone 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) and report it, and can also call the AARP Fraud Watch Network helpline at 877-908-3360, which is free. Anyone who has not been caught yet should hang up the moment a caller asks for the number, then do any plan shopping through Medicare’s own Plan Finder or by calling Medicare directly.

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Money magazine’s open enrollment scam rundown adds a few more tactics. Caller ID can be spoofed, so a familiar-looking number proves nothing. Some callers recite a date of birth or an address to seem legitimate. Others offer a “new plastic or gold Medicare card,” although replacement cards are free and no one needs to pay for one.

The fake MyChart kit

The same report says more than 40 health systems have recently warned patients about a “MyChart Medicare Kit” scam. It spreads through texts and emails, and Becker’s Healthcare tracked the warnings. The guidance from Nofziger and the report is the same as for phone calls: delete suspicious emails and texts, and do not click anything inside them.

The bait works because MyChart is a real patient portal that many older patients already use for test results and appointments. A message that borrows its name looks routine. Anyone who gets one can skip the link and open the official MyChart app or site on their own to see whether anything is actually waiting.

Why Dec. 7 matters

Medicare’s annual open enrollment period runs from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7, according to KFF, a health policy research group. Any plan change made in that window takes effect Jan. 1. The calls are arriving in that stretch, when real insurers and brokers are also trying to reach people, which is why a caller who sounds helpful is not proof of anything.

Anyone who wants to change plans does not need a caller’s help. Plan Finder lists the drug plans and Medicare Advantage plans offered in a ZIP code, and the plans themselves have enrollment lines. Hanging up costs nothing and the deadline leaves weeks to act.

Social Security’s own warning

Social Security put out a similar message on Oct. 30. Its agency blog says scammers often pose as government employees and lean on four tactics: pretending to be someone official, inventing a problem or a prize, applying pressure, and demanding payment. “Our employees will never contact you unless you initiate it first,” the post says.

The agency’s advice is to hang up on or ignore suspicious calls, emails, texts and social media messages, and to avoid clicking links or opening attachments. Someone who has already shared information should report it right away to the Office of the Inspector General, the post says, and the agency adds that it is there to help. It also states flatly that a cost-of-living increase is automatic: “You DO NOT need to pay for a benefits increase. Ever.”

That leaves one open question for anyone who has taken a call in the past few weeks: whether a Medicare number, a date of birth or an address went out over the phone. Callers in this wave use personal details like those to sound legitimate, so the report to 1-800-MEDICARE is the step that matters most. Social Security’s inspector general takes reports of scams that use the agency’s name, and Medicare’s line takes the ones that use Medicare’s.

Already gave a caller your Medicare number?

Callers in this wave use details like a date of birth and an address to sound legitimate. Once a Medicare number has been read out loud, the next worry is what else a scammer can open or reach with the details that came along with it.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.