Cities around the nation report health care scams: the top 12

The Ides of March, St. Patrick’s Day, and the first day of spring all fall in the third month of the year.

But March historically also is the month with the most reported health care scams, according to a study by Weiss & Paarz Medical Malpractice Attorneys. The firm, which handles claims in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, analyzed data from the Better Business Bureau and found con artists are willing to use health care concerns as a ruse to bilk consumers.

Since 2015, there have been at least 4,000 Americans falling victims to health care scams around the nation. The tricks include bogus marketing, identity theft, and impersonation of health care providers, according to Weiss & Paarz.

The news is worst in Ohio, where three cities made the national top ten list of the most-scammed.

The best way to protect against health care scams is to guard your patients’ personal health information and tell them to do the same, taking care to safeguard their personal data online. The total number of reported scams peaked in 2018 at 1,038, but the good news is that incidents have declined since then.

Here are the top 12 cities for health care scams around the United States, based on incidents reported to the Better Business Bureau from January 2015 to September 2022.