PhishPin / Brands Live Phishing Data / Government & public services / Medicare

Key findings for Medicare

• Impersonation pressure is Elevated (46/100): Medicare has more reported hosts than 73% of the 579 brands we track.
• That is 0.6× the average for government & public services (36 hosts per brand).
• 3 hosts (13%) hide the Medicare name in a subdomain of an unrelated site, the trick that makes a link look official at a glance.
• The most common ending is .com (16 hosts, 70%).
• 9% of hosts pair the brand with a bait word. The most common is “claim” (2 hosts).
• 40 lookalike domains were registered in the last 15 days, 14 of them in the three most recent days of data.
• 2 of the new domains are typo or look-alike-character copies, which are the hardest for people to spot.

How attackers fake Medicare

These breakdowns cover all 23 matching hostnames, not only the rows listed below.

Hosts reported in phishing feeds

The most widely reported hostnames that reference Medicare, ranked by how many feeds list them and then by reported URLs. Search, filter and export all 23 rows.

New lookalike domains registered recently

Domains registered in the last 15 days that contain Medicare's name, sit one character away from it or use look-alike characters. Attackers often register these days before sending the first email.

How Medicare phishing works

Phishing against Medicare follows patterns common to government & public services. Typical lures:

• A "refund", "overdue balance" or "unclaimed benefit" message with a link to a fake portal.
• A toll or fine notice by text with a short link and a tight payment deadline.
• A call or message from a "case officer" threatening arrest or deportation unless you pay.
• A request to "verify your identity" for benefits, student aid or a travel programme.

Red flags

• Government agencies do not demand payment by gift card, crypto or text link.
• Official sites end in .gov; lookalikes use .com, .xyz, .top or words like "refund" and "pay".
• The first contact is a text or an unsolicited call rather than a letter or your own online account.

Real Medicare domains

If the address in your browser is not one of these (or a subdomain of them), it is not Medicare. The list is not exhaustive.

If you already clicked or entered details

Do not pay. If you shared your SSN or ID, place a fraud alert or credit freeze, and report it at reportfraud.ftc.gov and identitytheft.gov. Reach the agency through its official .gov website.

Protecting a brand like Medicare from lookalike domains

If you run security, brand or fraud for a company that is copied this way, this is the order that works in practice:

1. Enforce DMARC. Move your policy to quarantine, then reject, so attackers cannot send mail that passes as your domain.
2. Watch new registrations. Lookalikes appear daily; the earlier you see one, the sooner you can act, ideally before the first email goes out.
3. Register the obvious typos and keyword variants you can afford to hold, and check which lookalikes are already registered by someone else.
4. Report fast. A live fake needs a request to the registrar and host, plus a report to browser safe-browsing lists and the public feeds shown above.
5. Tell your customers where you will and will not ask for logins, codes or payments.

Questions about Medicare phishing

Other government & public services being impersonated

All government & public services brands ranked

Most impersonated brands overall

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