Medicare paid about $136 million of the $227 million in COVID-19 test-kit claims that lab owner Syed Murtuza Kablazada’s laboratories billed it, the Justice Department says. To get there, he paid about $11 million to a purported telemarketing company in Pakistan for personal information on hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries. Kablazada pleaded guilty on Oct. 30, 2026, to two counts of health care fraud.
The department’s announcement puts four sums on the table: $227 million billed, about $136 million paid, about $11 million spent on beneficiary data and more than $46 million seized from ten bank accounts that Kablazada agreed to forfeit. It gives no full accounting of where the rest of the $136 million went.
Anyone on Medicare can look for claims under their own number for test kits they never ordered, since the labs billed for kits that, according to the department, were never requested by or shipped to beneficiaries. A lab or a supply nobody remembers on a claims list is the item to look for, and the ways to report it are below.
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Why did Medicare pay $136 million of a $227 million bill?
The gap between the two numbers is about $91 million, so Medicare paid roughly 60 cents of every dollar billed. The department does not say why the remainder went unpaid, and it does not say whether claims were denied, reduced or stopped before payment.
The claims came from three Chicago-area laboratories, Chicago Care, V Care and Al-Ameer, which Kablazada and co-schemers acquired starting in January 2023, over about six months. The labs billed Medicare for over-the-counter COVID-19 test kits, and the department describes the claims as false and fraudulent.
What did $11 million buy from a company in Pakistan?
The purchase was personally identifiable information on hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries. The department says Kablazada paid about $11 million to a purported telemarketing company in Pakistan and then used the data to file the claims. Compared with the Medicare payments, the data cost about 8 cents of every dollar paid.
The department says the labs used that data to file claims for kits the beneficiaries never requested. It does not list which details the data contained.
Where did the rest of the money go?
The announcement lists three paths. The defendants paid themselves through overseas money transfers, they used unlicensed money transmitters, and they spent some proceeds on luxury vehicles. The department says the first two were meant to hide their involvement.
Against that, investigators seized more than $46 million from ten bank accounts, and Kablazada agreed to forfeit it as part of the plea. That is about a third of the Medicare payments. The department does not give a total for the transfers abroad or a value for the vehicles, and it does not say whether either will be recovered.
A sentencing date has not been set. Kablazada faces a maximum of 20 years, and the department says the sentence will follow consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. The FBI’s Chicago Field Office and the HHS Office of Inspector General investigated.
How can someone trace claims filed under their Medicare number?
The first stop is the claims list itself. Medicare’s fraud-reporting guidance says members with a secure Medicare.gov account can view Original Medicare claims as soon as they are processed. Members compare the dates and services on their own calendar with their statements, and if a charge looks wrong, Medicare says to call the provider’s office first.
When the provider cannot explain a charge, Medicare asks members to call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). Members of a Medicare Advantage or drug plan can use the I-MEDIC line at 1-877-772-3379. The HHS Office of Inspector General takes tips at 1-800-HHS-TIPS and through its online form, where it asks for the business name, a description of the activity and any billing records or photographs.
Not every complaint becomes an investigation, according to the inspector general’s office, and its hotline decisions cannot be appealed. A report still puts a suspect claim on record with the agency that investigated this case.
Could a stranger be using a Medicare number to bill for care nobody received?
Kablazada paid about $11 million for beneficiaries’ details, which tells how much a list of real names and numbers is worth to people who bill for a living. A claims list shows whether Medicare was billed. It does not show whether the same kind of information is being used to reach a bank login or open an account.
“Scam-Proof Your Accounts in a Weekend” covers that side in ten moves, ordered so the money most at risk is protected first, including how to lock your bank logins with two-step login, alerts and a verbal password. The guide runs 13 pages and is built to be finished in about four hours.
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
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.
