There have been reports of individuals receiving unsolicited telephone calls from an organization called the "Medicare Help Center" claiming to be conducting Medi-Cal Surveys. Neither the calls nor the surveys were authorized by the County of Santa Cruz or the State Department of Health Care Services.
If you believe that you were contacted regarding these unauthorized surveys, please submit a Consumer Complaint Form (PDF, 60 KB) to the Santa Cruz District Attorney's Office of Consumer Fraud/Environmental Protection Unit at 701 Ocean Street, Room 200, Santa Cruz, CA 95060 or e-mail to dao@santacruzcountyca.gov.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture-Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), there have been reports of the general public receiving unsolicited calls (https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/urgent-notice) from what appears to be the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs SNAP Toll Free Hotline Number 1-800-221-5689.
The unsolicited callers are requesting personal information when offering assistance for filling out a SNAP CalFresh application or other non-SNAP related services such as home security systems. The outside entity that has “spoofed” the SNAP toll free information hotline number is not affiliated with FNS or SNAP.
Please remember to never provide personal information or your credit card number over the phone to unsolicited callers.
If you suspect that you are receiving illegitimate calls from 1-800-221-5689, you may file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission.
If you have already fallen victim to this or a similar scam, please visit: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/ for more information on identity theft.