Tip of the iceberg.

“WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal authorities said Tuesday they’ve broken up a $1.2 billion Medicare scam that peddled unneeded orthopedic braces to hundreds of thousands of seniors via foreign call centers.

The Justice Department announced charges against 24 people across the U.S., including doctors accused of writing bogus prescriptions for unneeded back, shoulder, wrist and knee braces. Others charged included owners of call centers, telemedicine firms and medical equipment companies.

The Health and Human Services inspector general’s office said the fast-moving scam morphed into multiple related schemes, fueled by kickbacks among the parties involved. The FBI, the IRS, and 17 U.S. attorney’s offices took part in the crackdown. Arrests were made Tuesday morning…”

https://apnews.com/a4991f62e2f84b8cb9869efeaeb57a02

I got a robocall yesterday about the braces.

Heck, I just got one of those calls less than an hour ago. Poor Andrew with a thick foreign accent probably hadn’t heard that the Feds had already put him out of business.

I have had many of those calls. They get rude when you tell them f u and the goat you rode in on

Got several of these calls, the message reaps of obvious fraud, was hoping .gov was working on it.

I alternate, depending on the mood I'm in.

I either answer "State Police - Fraud Unit", which usually results in being hung up on immediately, or...

I'll ask a bunch of honest-sounding questions like what company they're with and how I get a brace, and then maybe transition to some more probing questions like where they're calling from. It's amazing how much information the right person will give you. OR...

I tell them the truth - that I'm an attorney and an expert in insurance law, what they're doing constitutes criminal fraud, and they'll either argue with me or quickly become sheepish and answer my questions (name of the company, call center locations, etc.), after I tell them that my next call is going to be to CMS' fraud investigation unit.

I hate those fuckers, so I try to waste as much of their time as possible.

-Rob

They continually audit doctors practices with little reward. Glad to see they are finally going after corporate fraud on a big time scale.

Hope they send the bastard corporate officers to jail and take all their assets - personal and corporate.

This is good news,I get scam calls all the time,hope it cuts some of these calls down.
They troll SSI folks every damn day.

FOX is carrying this story now too.



FBI indicts CEOs, COOs in $1.2B telemarketing scam that targeted Medicare recipients


The FBI announced on Tuesday that it has charged 24 individuals, including CEOs and COOs of medical equipment companies, with participation in one of the largest health care fraud schemes in U.S. history against Medicare Opens a New Window. recipients.

FBI agents said a slew of executives at five telemedicine companies and owners of dozens of durable medical equipment (DME) companies along with three doctors have been charged with health care Opens a New Window. fraud involving more than $1.2 billion in losses.

“Today, one of the largest health care fraud schemes in U.S. history came to an end thanks to close collaboration and coordination between the FBI and partners including HHS-OIG and IRS-CI,” FBI Assistant Director Robert Johnson said in a statement.

The alleged scheme involved the payment of illegal kickbacks and bribes by DME companies in exchange for the referral of Medicare beneficiaries by medical professionals who were working with fraudulent telemedicine companies for back, shoulder, wrist and knee braces that “are medically unnecessary.”

The scam relied on telemarketers scattered throughout the Philippines and Latin America to seek out elderly patients eligible for Medicare using television and radio ads, as well as cold calls, by promising them “free or low-cost” braces.

The defendants allegedly paid doctors to prescribe medical equipment without any patient interaction or with only a brief phone call.

The profits were then laundered through international shell corporations and used to purchase exotic automobiles, yachts and luxury real estate in the U.S. and abroad.

“These defendants — who range from corporate executives to medical professionals — allegedly participated in an expansive and sophisticated fraud to exploit telemedicine technology meant for patients otherwise unable to access health care,” Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski said in a statement on Tuesday.

Federal officials said more than 80 search warrants in 17 federal districts were needed throughout the investigation. Those charged reside all across the country, including in Florida, New Jersey, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, California and New York.



https://www.foxbusiness.com/fe...-medicare-recipients

Medicare fraud investigators must not watch late night TV. I spotted those ads as fraud long ago.

Got two calls today for my brace. And Rachel wants to help me with my student loan debt.
My last college course was in 1975.

Good, maybe they will go after more of these bastards. "You have inquired about Medicare plans with us previously", "This is the pharmacy", We have been trying to reach you regarding your expired car warranty", "This is Microsoft/Windows calling about your computer". Oh yes, forgot "Since we have been on a cruise with them before there is a special offer today". Only "cruise" I was on, it's unlikely they are calling me, it was on the Detroit Fire Department's fire boat a number of years ago as a guest.

On my cell yesterday one went to voicemail, she was speaking in what I assume was a Chinese language of some sort! Second time I've gotten one of those.

Just about everything related to Medicare has a scam version.

I see an Medicare EOB Statement for my mother for some huge amount at a city quite far from where she lives. It’s a sleep study test. I asked my mother. She remembers she in the senior center to socialize and the program director herded a group to a van for an “outing.” They go to the city listed in the EOB. They took her information and fed them lunch. Then they got brought back.

I called the Medicare fraud line and explained it to them. The woman thanked me. Not sure if anything came of it. The amount charged was so ridiculous I couldn’t just let it slide.

Somehow my dad ended up with a hospital bed. I never saw EOB Statements for the bed. When I took my dad to an Alzheimer’s unit for long time care, I called the outfit that sent the bed, they said keep it there there’s no harm. Ok,I folded it up and it went to the basement. Soon as he died, I get a call and told me they were picking up the bed. That made me realize they were getting paid for keeping the bed at my dad’s place.

quote:

Originally posted by craigcpa:
Hope they send the bastard corporate officers to jail and take all their assets - personal and corporate.

I'm hoping for public hangings in village squares. If there are not enough of them to go around, they will be re-hanged.

quote:

I called the Medicare fraud line and explained it to them. The woman thanked me. Not sure if anything came of it. The amount charged was so ridiculous I couldn’t just let it slide.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
More people need to do this. Eventually the Medicare folks may get around to it. It is also good to call your Congressional Representative. They have contacts at a higher level and will look into it since it makes them look good.

I'd never thought they'd figure it out. I knew it was a scam since the first time I heard about it on the radio and tv, scamming for an elastic wrap you can buy at Walmart for $19.95. And remember the other side of the transaction, the US Govt is the largest criminal enterprise on the earth.