Authorities in Kentucky and Nebraska warned residents about the scam, in which groups visit vulnerable communities and offer payment in return for individuals’ DNA swabs and health insurance information. Officials told Bloomberg that some of these operations falsely claim to be associated with actual Medicaid insurers.
Though it is not yet clear how the scammers are using the information, officials worry it could be used to steal identities. The scammers may also attempt to defraud government health programs by billing Medicare for unnecessary medical services based on the DNA swabbing, since CMS announced in 2018 that Medicare covers certain genetic testing.
More articles about cybersecurity:
Hackers may turn patient PHI into malware in medical image files
Update: Data breach exposes 278,000 Navicent Health patients’ information
Hackers tried to reroute payments of 5,600 Blue Cross of Idaho members
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