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Most
health care providers are honest and are providing the best care
they can, but the small number who aren't find ways to steal billions
of dollars from the health care system each year. Even more is lost
to errors in billing that are never found. Below you will find current
scams that are happening right here in Iowa.
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 Iowa SMP has received reports of these recent scams:
• Calls made with a recorded message that Iowa has a new program to pay for $6000-8000 of funeral costs; the only thing you have to do is give your bank account information.
• E-mails from persons in foreign countries stating they need help making a charitable donation or need to get money to a needy family member but can’t safely disburse the money from their country. You will receive money and disburse it for them, keeping a portion for yourself.
• E-mail from the FBI Director Robert Mueller telling you that their “Intelligence Monitoring Network System ” has investigated the transactions you had with a Nigerian official and the FBI has authorized the release of the money to you now. You have to send $350 in order to receive an ATM card that is loaded with your large payment.
Posted: 10/07/2008
Telephone Scams about Power Disconnect and Tree Trimming
The Manchester, Iowa Area Agency on Aging reported that telephone scammers are calling, posing as power company or utility workers, telling citizens their power will be disconnected unless they make payment over the phone! Now the Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller has issued a statewide warning about this scam. Don’t fall for this scam – don’t give out your credit card or debit card information over the phone. And watch out for a variation on this theme, scammers telling you they need payment for the utility company to do required tree trimming. If you receive suspicious calls like this, check with your utility company and if they tell you it’s a scam call, report it to your local police department.
Posted: 07/18/2008
Wire Transfer Scams
Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller has issued a statement for immediate release, reminding Iowans to steer clear of wire transfer scams. What does this mean? Here are some examples:
• You get a call or letter stating you’ve won a lottery prize, which is quite often from Canada or a foreign country. But they tell you that after you cash the check they send, you must return money by wire transfer (like Western Union) to pay your taxes or other fees.
• You advertise something you want to sell in your newspaper or on the Internet. A potential buyer contacts you, insists on sending a money order or cashier’s check for more than the sales price and tells you that you can help him by wiring the difference to someone else, who is his “shipper” or “handler.”
Here’s how you LOSE! You cash the check or money order, wire the requested amount, and a few days or weeks later, your bank tells you it was a counterfeit check. You OWE all the money back to the bank!
An attempt at this scam just occurred in Waterloo; a scammer pretending to be a buyer, tried to pull this trick on someone selling puppies through a newspaper ad.
If anyone attempts this scam on you, report it to your police department and the SMP program.
Posted: 07/18/2008
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