BEND, Ore. – St. Charles Health System patients have received phone calls from criminals identifying themselves as either St. Charles caregivers or Medicare officials in an effort to get valuable information like Medicare and Social Security numbers.
The caller ID may appear as a St. Charles number. Falsifying a caller ID number in this way is known as “spoofing,” and unfortunately, St. Charles cannot prevent this type of criminal activity.
The health system is asking the public to be cautious about ever giving medical or insurance information over the phone. Those who suspect a caller is falsely representing St. Charles should hang up and call their St. Charles provider’s office to find out if they need information.
Individuals who believe they have been a victim of any kind of phone scam should consider reporting it.
The Federal Trade Commission is the primary government agency that collects scam complaints and can be contacted one of two ways:
To report suspected Medicare fraud, call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227).
There are also two ways to report caller ID spoofing to the Federal Communications Commission:
Those who have been a victim of identity theft should visit https://identitytheft.gov/ for information on how to report it.
To learn more about how to spot and avoid Medicare scams or scams in general visit,
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2019/03/protect-yourself-against-medicare-scams
About St. Charles Health System
St. Charles Health System, Inc., headquartered in Bend, Ore., owns and operates St. Charles Bend, Madras, Prineville and Redmond. It also owns family care clinics in Bend, La Pine, Madras, Prineville, Redmond and Sisters. St. Charles is a private, not-for-profit Oregon corporation and is the largest employer in Central Oregon with more than 4,600 caregivers. In addition, there are more than 350 active medical staff members and nearly 200 visiting medical staff members who partner with the health system to provide a wide range of care and service to our communities.
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