Sponsored search ads for Medicare and health insurance lead to identity-harvesting scam sites
Scammers buy ads that appear above real .gov results when you search for Medicare or ACA health insurance. The sponsored sites harvest your SSN and banking details or enroll you in junk plans with unexpected fees.
Also known as: fake Medicare search ad, health insurance search scam, ACA marketplace impersonation, Medicare search result fraud
Already happened to you? Do this in the next few minutes
- 1 Call your bank or card's fraud line right now. Use the number on the back of your card — not any number from the message or caller. Ask them to stop or reverse the payment and freeze the account.
- 2 If you paid by gift card, wire, or an app (Zelle, Venmo, Cash App): contact that company immediately and report it as fraud. Acting fast sometimes recovers the money.
- 3 Report to the FBI at ic3.gov and the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov. The sooner, the better.
What to do right now
- 1 For Medicare, always start at medicare.gov — type it directly into your address bar; do not click search ads
- 2 For ACA marketplace plans, start at healthcare.gov — again, type the URL directly rather than using a search result
- 3 If you gave your SSN or Medicare number on a suspicious site, place a free credit freeze with all three bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion) at annualcreditreport.com and file an identity theft report at identitytheft.gov
- 4 If you were enrolled in a plan without clear consent, call your state's insurance commissioner to file a complaint
- 5 Report to the FTC at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov and the FBI's IC3 at https://www.ic3.gov.
Red flags
- ⚠ The first result for your search has a small 'Ad' or 'Sponsored' label — that label means someone paid to place it there, and it may not be a government site
- ⚠ Legitimate Medicare and ACA enrollment sites end in .gov — any health insurance site not ending in .gov is not a federal government site
- ⚠ The site asks for your Social Security number, Medicare number, or banking details just to 'check eligibility' or 'get a quote'
- ⚠ Enrollment happens over the phone after you click the ad, and the agent is unusually pushy or discourages you from comparing other plans
- ⚠ After providing your information you are enrolled in a plan you did not ask for, with unexpected monthly charges