USA Today reports that nearly 103,000 individuals under Medicare were disclosed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to potentially have had their information compromised following a "data incident" identified in early May.
Medicare beneficiaries' names, birthdates, ZIP codes, mailing addresses, and services received have been leveraged by threat actors to create fraudulent accounts since 2023, according to the CMS, which discovered the suspicious account activity following phone calls from beneficiaries on May 2. Aside from deactivating the erring accounts, CMS also confirmed providing new account numbers for all impacted individuals while emphasizing the lack of evidence suggesting any identity theft stemming from the incident. Meanwhile, Medicare recipients have been urged to not only examine and report unusual account activity in their Medicare Summary Notices and Explanation of Benefits but also procure complimentary credit reports and inform the Federal Trade Commission and/or local law enforcement about possible identity theft.
Medicare beneficiaries' names, birthdates, ZIP codes, mailing addresses, and services received have been leveraged by threat actors to create fraudulent accounts since 2023, according to the CMS, which discovered the suspicious account activity following phone calls from beneficiaries on May 2. Aside from deactivating the erring accounts, CMS also confirmed providing new account numbers for all impacted individuals while emphasizing the lack of evidence suggesting any identity theft stemming from the incident. Meanwhile, Medicare recipients have been urged to not only examine and report unusual account activity in their Medicare Summary Notices and Explanation of Benefits but also procure complimentary credit reports and inform the Federal Trade Commission and/or local law enforcement about possible identity theft.
