The insurance industry was aghast and said "please, please, oh please, please, please, do not show the public at large how easy it is to concoct and commit this scam."
The San Franciso Chronicle and BBC News report on "the largest fraud by one criminal enterprise in the [Medicare's] history." Interestingly, the fraud has been perpetuated Armenian criminals prompting U.S. attorney Preet Bharar to say, "When it comes to making money illegally, this Armenian-American group puts the traditional mafia to shame."
BBC reports
The group, most of whom are of Armenian origin, are accused of setting up some 118 clinics across the US, most of which existed only on paper or were "nothing more than shams, shells, and storefronts" ...
They allegedly stole the identities of real doctors and beneficiaries of Medicare - the US federal insurance programme for the elderly - and "submitted bill after bill for treatment that no doctor ever performed and that no patient ever received" ...
In addition, the gang were accused of carrying out "a raft of rackets, extortion, credit card fraud, identity theft, immigration fraud, and even the distribution of contraband cigarettes and stolen Viagra".
This ought to be very useful information to help those putting together the manual for Medicare ripoffs. Make mine a Medicare ripoff with side orders of extortion, contraband cigarettes and stolen Viagra, s'il vous plait.
Apparently the organization attempted to defraud Medicare of $163 million, and was successful in obtaining at least $35 million.
The SF Chronicle note that
Unlike other cases involving crooked medical clinics bribing people to sign up for unneeded treatments, the operation was "completely notional," Janice Fedarcyk, head of the FBI's New York office, said in a statement. "The whole doctor-patient interaction was a mirage."
Look, Ma, at what the computer can do!!
The computer has helped make American workers more productive. This, supposedly, is a good thing. These stories make clear that the computer has also made criminals more productive. This includes the criminals on Wall Street, arguably the most destructive criminal class in the U.S. All this automation and hyper-productivity might not be such a good thing.
Authorities began the New York-based investigation after information on 2,900 Medicare patients in upstate New York — including Social Security numbers and dates of birth — were reported stolen.
The defendants in the New York case also had stolen the identities of doctors and set up 118 phantom clinics in 25 states, authorities said. The names were used to submit fake bills for care that was never given, they said.
Some of the phony paperwork was a giveaway: It showed eye doctors doing bladder tests; ear, nose and throat specialists performing pregnancy ultrasounds; obstetricians testing for skin allergies; and dermatologists billing for heart exams.
But WAIT a minute - trying to get Medicare to pay for pregnancy ultrasounds? THAT wasn't a giveaway? You mean Medicare is paying for pregnancy tests? Shudder.
How about these quotes to challenge the American mafia:
"When it comes to making money illegally, this Armenian-American group puts the traditional mafia to shame," ...
"So in terms of profitability, geographic scope, and sheer ambition, this emerging international organised crime syndicate would be the envy of any traditional mafia family," he said.
Hey guys, you can't even sniff these Armenians' jock straps.
Note how helpful this article is in pointing out the mistakes these criminals made. The next organization attempting this scam will know to not make these mistakes, and thus become more difficult to detect.
All the news that's fit to print.
