More than 100,000 Medicare recipients will be receiving new cards and numbers after what the agency is describing as a “data incident.”
In a statement, the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services said it had identified “suspicious activity” related to unauthorized creation of
Medicare.gov
,accounts that used personal information “obtained from unknown external sources.” The investigation showed cyber criminals had fraudulently created new accounts between 2023 and 2025 using valid beneficiary information, including coverage start dates, last names, dates of birth and ZIP codes.
The information could then be used to obtain mailing addresses, provider information, diagnosis codes, services received, plan premium details and dates of service.
103,000 accounts impacted
Those impacted accounts – some 103,000 of them – were deactivated and beneficiaries whose information may have been compromised are being notified.
“The safeguarding and security of personally identifiable information is of the utmost importance to CMS,” the agency said.
A letter sent to people whose information was compromised informed them that they will receive a new Medicare card and Medicare number. Medicare benefits or coverage weren’t affected, the agency said, and there have been no reports of identity fraud or misuser of the information as a result of the activity.
Out of “an abundance of caution,” CMS said it had deactivated all the fraudulently created Medicare.gov accounts, disabled the ability to create new accounts from a foreign IP address and mailed new Medicare cards as needed.
Beneficiaries are advised to monitor their statements for signs of identity theft and report any suspicious activity to 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) or to the
Office of Inspector General.
