Lance and Debra Larson was amazed when health insurance bills were made for more than $ 84,000 by eight different laboratories they had not heard before.
Even after reporting the suspected fraud, the charges continued. So NBC 5 responds to finding laboratories, but what we discovered in their listed addresses left us more than questions.
“(Our insurance) was paying all these money to all these different laboratories from the services we did not receive,” said Dibera Larson from Des Blanes. Larson Fist noticed strange laboratory fees on explaining it at Blue Cross Blue Shield for benefits insurance last summer.
She said, “They were all laboratories. I knew, as you know, what laboratories I did exactly. I knew they were not right.”
Every week without failure, fees were directed to “diagnostic diseases” that are described under the name Debra or her husband's name.
“Sometimes we may get one or two, and sometimes we get a Fedex box full of them,” said Larson sitting next to a pile of bills.
While Larsons was not on a hook for thousands in false claims, they did not want anything with fraud.
“Someone got my information and use it for fraudulent purposes,” Larson, who receives health insurance, told BCBS through Illinois.
And that is when the couple faced NBC 5, he responds to an investigation from early 2024.
Larson said: “Oh, Wow, this is the same thing that happened to us! And it is called Fotum Bills,” Larson said.
The couple said that they reported the Phantom bills to BCBS several times. The new health insurance policy has been released, but this did not stop fraud.
Why? BCBS told us, “We do not comment on specific situations.” But then, Larson said she had never heard.
In total, the Larsons Health insurance bill has been more than $ 84,000 by eight different laboratory companies. Their names: Rainbow Labs LLC, Safeena Enverprises, icon Events, Care Foundation, Clear Labs, Synergistic Health DX, DH Diagnostics Inc and YMQ Labs.
NBC 5 responds to each of the laboratories that described Larsons insurance. All numbers were the dozens we called almost out of service. We left the voice mail messages to others, but we didn't hear again.
After that, we went to all the titles that we can find linked to the laboratory and its registered agents.
Some headlines moved us to cultural learning centers and donation in the North Park area and Scoke, but no one spoke to him knew anything about the laboratories that were supposed to be there. The majority of the headlines took off offices and interfaces of the empty stores.
One site of the laboratory had a pile of evacuation notifications recorded on its door. A man working across the hall told us that no one saw in the laboratory. Once again, people who work next to these offices and companies told us the same.
“The thieves really moved to health care and really took it through the storm,” said Scott Sporaza, CEO of Healthclock. For each website, “the company helps” to restore privacy, control and savings for healthcare “by checking medical bills for members, protection from errors and excessive fatigue
Sperenza explained that most fake photographic fraud stems from data violations. According to HipPa, more than 133 million records have been exposed to data violations since 2021.
“What is happening is the preparation of a fake bills company, they buy groups numbers … ID numbers, and the group numbers (numbers), and they submit a claim on behalf of me. They receive money from the carrier. They close, they are a ghost, and they have created all this chaos.”
Spiranza said that many insurance companies use automation to treat low cost claims, and therefore fraud is not always caught. But the insurance company is not the only one to pay the price.
Since their fake claims, this is a source of anxiety that affects Larsons.
“If this happens to us, it is likely to happen to many different people,” said Larson.
In a statement, a Blue Cross Blue Shield spokesman told us: “Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois works cooperatively to help discover, determine fraud, waste and abuse that raise health care costs for all.
We do not comment on specific situations, but we routinely review the claims on legitimacy and audit providers, and we analyze data to reveal unusual bills patterns, refer matters to the application of the law for their review and consideration, and work with the application of the law on their fraud investigations.
We advise members to review their explanation of their benefits to ensure that they have the medical exams and treatments that the provider shows, protect the identifiers of the members and other personal information, and report when they are lost or stolen.
Members can report suspected fraud by calling the number on the back of their insurance card. BCBSil members can complete the fraud report, or call our hotline to the number 800-543-0867. Callemen can remain unknown. “
We shared the results of our investigation with the FBI. A spokesman says they cannot comment on any next steps they might take. In a statement, a FBI spokesman told us:
“In general, the FBI is the main agency for investigation of health care fraud, which is still a top priority in the white collar crime portfolio.
The FBI encourages Chicago to report any case of health care fraud directly to the online crime complaints center on www.ic3.gov. Even if the public believed that the fraud they faced may be “minimal”, the FBI, as well as law enforcement and general partners, often build cases when the total fraud of the same perpetrator occurs. The audience's advice can be a piece of puzzle lost in a case against fraudsters. “
The FBI provides the following advice to help avoid healthcare fraud:
Protect your health insurance information. Treat it like a credit card. Do not give it to others to use it, and pay attention when using it in the doctor's office or pharmacy. Beware of “free” services. If you are asked to provide your health insurance information to get a “free” service, the service may be free and can be collected fraudulently to your insurance company. Check you for the benefits (EOB) regularly. Ensure that the dates, sites and services described by matching what I already received. If there is a source of anxiety, contact your health insurance provider.
