Warning: If You Get a ‘New’ Plastic Medicare Card in the Mail, Do Not Give Your Social Security Number

Medicare tells beneficiaries to protect their Medicare number like a credit card. The standard Medicare card is paper, and an unexpected offer for a new plastic or chip card is a scam warning sign. angelstructure/Shutterstock

An official-looking Medicare card unexpectedly arrives in your mailbox, but there’s something different about it: it’s plastic, perhaps has a chip, and comes with instructions telling you to call a number to “activate” your new benefits.

Don’t make that call.