Medicare Open Enrollment opens October 15, and the scammers have already moved to the top of the search results. In a consumer alert published September 28 and modified September 29, the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection staff warned that fraudsters pay for prominent search-ad placement and use web addresses that look like government ones, imitating Medicare.gov and Healthcare.gov. The agency’s alert says the result can be a plan that is not health insurance at all, or medical identity theft.
Affiliate links — we may earn a commission.
Paid placement and lookalike .gov addresses
The mechanism is simple, and it exploits how most people look for a government site: they type a few words into a search engine and click what appears first. The FTC says scammers “sometimes pay to appear at the top” of search results, and that some use web addresses that resemble government ones, along with keywords and official-looking logos, to make a visitor believe they have reached the real Healthcare.gov or Medicare.gov when they have not.
That matters now because the traffic is about to spike. Medicare’s annual window to join, drop or switch a Medicare Advantage or drug plan runs from October 15 through December 7, according to Medicare.gov, and coverage chosen in that period starts January 1. Search traffic for plan terms rises around the window, which is when a paid imposter listing has the most to gain. A person who lands on a fake page may be asked for a Medicare number, a date of birth or a bank account, and those details are the product the scammer is after.
The question for anyone enrolling this fall is how to stay protected once personal details are in circulation, because the fake site is only the first step. Details handed over on an imposter page, or already sitting on marketing and people-search lists, are what later fuel the follow-up calls, texts and emails pitching “plan upgrades.” Less personal data on broker lists can mean fewer of those contacts, and Incogni sends removal requests to those brokers for you, which is a separate job from spotting the fake page itself.
The FTC’s two phone numbers and the .gov test
The concrete step in the alert is a phone call rather than a click. For Medicare, the FTC points people to Medicare.gov or 800-633-4227. For Marketplace coverage under the Affordable Care Act, it lists HealthCare.gov or 800-318-2596. Those are the numbers the agency itself publishes for reaching the real programs, and they sidestep the search page entirely.
The alert’s practical tests are short. Look for the small “Ad” or “Sponsored” label on a result and scroll past paid listings. Check that the address ends in .gov. The FTC also notes that State Health Insurance Assistance Programs, known as SHIPs, and the Senior Medicare Patrol are available for help, and it lists ReportFraud.ftc.gov, Medicare.gov’s fraud reporting and state attorney general offices as places to report a scam.
What the FTC says is at stake
The alert names two outcomes. The first is paying for a plan that is “not health insurance,” which leaves a person believing they are covered while the real enrollment deadline passes. The second is medical identity theft, in which someone uses a person’s Medicare or insurance details to obtain care or file claims in their name.
Neither outcome depends on the victim being careless. A paid placement at the top of a results page carries a sense of legitimacy that the “Ad” label only partly undoes, and a convincing logo does the rest. That is why the FTC frames the advice around slowing down at the moment of searching, before any form is filled in.
Getting to the real enrollment pages before October 15
The free route starts at Medicare.gov. The agency’s joining-a-plan page explains what can be changed from October 15 through December 7, and the FTC’s 800-633-4227 line is the number to use if a page or a caller seems off. Marketplace shoppers can start at HealthCare.gov or call 800-318-2596.
Before enrolling, it helps to type the site name into the browser’s address bar yourself rather than clicking a result, and to confirm the .gov ending before entering a Medicare number. If a listing, text or call has already collected details, ReportFraud.ftc.gov is the FTC’s reporting channel and the SHIPs and Senior Medicare Patrol named in the alert are the FTC’s suggested help.
Keeping a note of what was entered, and where, makes any later report faster. The FTC’s September 29 modification of the alert, with the same two phone numbers intact, is the agency’s current word ahead of the October 15 opening.
Scam contacts after enrollment season often trace back to personal details on broker lists, and Incogni asks data brokers and people-search sites to remove your personal information. It also sends removal requests on your behalf and keeps re-sending them, and you can see the status of each request in your account.
See Incogni’s broker removal requests for Medicare-season scam contacts →
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by The Financial Wire’s editorial team.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
