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A26 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 24 March 2020
Feds: Virus frauds spread, preying on Medicare recipients

R ALONSO-ZALDIVAR has been developed and
Associated Press approved. "The first time
WASHINGTON (AP) — Scam you hear about a vaccine,
artists are preying on older it's not going to be through
people's fears by peddling an email or a telemarket-
fake tests for the coronavi- ing call," Schrank said.
rus to Medicare recipients, Federal and state law en-
a federal law enforcement forcement officials have
agency warned on Mon- set up a working group to
day. share information on the
The Health and Human quickly evolving scams and
Services inspector gen- route leads to the agencies
eral's office said it's seeing best equipped to investi-
marketing schemes rap- gate.
idly pivot to offering tests The phone number for the
for COVID-19 and "Senior HHS inspector general's ho-
Care Packages" with hand tline is 800-HHS-TIPS, and the
sanitizer or even tout a National Center for Disaster
vaccine, which doesn't ex- Fraud hotline is at 866-720-
ist. Some marketers falsely 5721.
claim that President Don- For most people, the coro-
ald Trump has ordered that navirus causes only mild
seniors get tested. or moderate symptoms,
It's all a trick to get per- In this March 19, 2020 photo, a shopper looks for toilet paper at a Stop & Shop supermarket during such as fever and cough.
sonal information that can hours open daily only for seniors in North Providence, R.I. Associated Press For some, especially older
be used to bill federal and adults and people with
state health programs, said ing via telemarketing calls, identity theft. their Medicare number is existing health problems, it
Christian Schrank, assistant robocalls, social media Once a person's Medicare required. can cause more severe ill-
inspector general for inves- posts, emails and door- information is in the hands — A scheme in the Midwest ness, including pneumonia.
tigations. to-door visits, Schrank ex- of fraudsters, it can be used offers a "Senior Care Pack- Worldwide, about 350,000
"It's a straight-up ruse to get plained. repeatedly to bill for un- age" that includes hand cases have been reported,
your Medicare number or As legitimate businesses wanted goods and servic- sanitizer. "As we know, it's and while most people re-
your Social Security num- close their doors and send es. That can create prob- very difficult for beneficia- cover in weeks, more than
ber under the guise of hav- workers home to comply lems if a Medicare enrollee ries to get out to the store," 15,000 have died.
ing a test kit or a sanitary kit with social distancing mea- ever does need them. Schrank said. "At this time Fraud against government
sent to you," Schrank said. sures, fraud operators have Among the schemes re- when seniors are search- health care programs is
Often the caller will hang ramped up recruiting for ported to authorities: ing for answers, these indi- a pervasive problem that
up as soon as that number their call centers, Schrank — In Florida, seniors have viduals are preying on their costs taxpayers tens of bil-
is provided. said. been contacted by fraud- desire to speak with some- lions of dollars a year. The
Low-income Medicaid re- For seniors, the conse- sters claiming that Trump body." true extent is unknown.
cipients also are being tar- quences can be long term. and Vice President Mike — Several online opera- Officials advise seniors who
geted. Health care fraud is one of Pence have mandated tions are offering corona- get fraudulent calls to just
The sales pitches are com- the most prevalent forms of they get tested and that virus vaccines, when none hang up the phone.q

Supreme Court last chance for

Trump to block Twitter critics

had concluded in July that 2nd Circuit’s decision to “less able to defend them-
the president’s daily pro- reject what is called an selves from hate and ha-
nouncements and obser- “en banc” hearing, a pro- rassment.”
vations were overwhelm- ceeding that generally Writing for the majority
ingly official in nature. It occurs less than once a who rejected the en-banc
said Trump violated the year. Circuit Judges Mi- request, Judge Barrington
First Amendment when- chael H. Park and Richard D. Parker cited tweets in
ever he blocked a critic to J. Sullivan said in the dis- which Trump threatened
silence a viewpoint. sent that the First Amend- Iran and Turkey to show so-
Justice Department law- ment “does not include cial media had been used
President Donald Trump speaks during a coronavirus task yers had insisted that the a right to post on other “as a tool of governance
force briefing at the White House, Sunday, March 22, 2020, in president’s @realDon- people’s personal social- and as an official chan-
Washington. aldTrump account is a per- media accounts, even if nel of communication on
Associated Press sonal account he created those people happen to an interactive public plat-
By LARRY NEUMEISTER of Appeals on Monday in 2009, long before he be public officials.” form.”
Associated Press rejected by a 7-2 vote his became president. They They also concluded that “Excluding people from
NEW YORK (AP) — Presi- lawyers’ request for all of said it should be treated public officials who express an otherwise public forum
dent Donald Trump will the court’s active judges like any personal property views on social-media ac- such as this by blocking
have to go to the U.S. Su- to conduct a rare hearing belonging to Trump. counts do not engage in those who express views
preme Court if he wants to to reconsider a 2nd Circuit Two 2nd Circuit judges “state action” when they critical of a public official
block critics from his per- panel’s finding that Trump recently appointed to do so. And they warned is, we concluded, uncon-
sonal Twitter account. cannot block critics. the Manhattan court by that the 2nd Circuit ruling stitutional viewpoint dis-
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court The three-judge panel Trump dissented from the will make public officials crimination,” he said. q