Are you getting billed for COVID-19 tests you didn’t order? Here’s what you need to know
By Gisselle Medina, Los Angeles Times
If 2022 was the year of free COVID-19 test kits, 2023 is shaping up to be the year of fraudulent COVID-19 test kits.
Consider what happened to Judy, an 85-year-old Medicare recipient in Southern California (we’re withholding her last name because she’s concerned about being victimized further). One day this year, five COVID-19 test kits showed up at her home without her ever requesting them.
“I didn’t pay any attention to the unsolicited COVID tests, so I threw them out,” Judy said. “It wasn’t until some months later that I received my Medicare summary bill and I saw charges for over-the-counter COVID tests I didn’t order.”
Each kit cost $120 to $150 — and she was responsible for a portion of the bill.
Judy is just one of hundreds of people who have fallen victim to a new scam involving COVID-19 test kits, part of the rising trend of fraudulent activity since the start of the pandemic.
Here’s how it works: Scammers buy stolen Medicare numbers online or extract them directly from Medicare patients. They use these ID numbers to bill Medicare for over-the-counter test kits, collecting a tidy profit on each one and causing enrollees to receive kits they did not order.