Medicare issuing new cards to residents of The Villages after data breach

Medicare has issued new cards and numbers to some people in The Villages due to a data breach.

The new numbers are effective Monday and a letter advises those who received them to destroy their old cards. It is not clear how many people were affected.

Due to the large number of Medicare recipients, The Villages is a focal point for possible fraud.

The letter does not indicate the problem with the old cards, but a Medicare employee confirmed that the action was taken due to a data breach.

A woman wrote on social media that she was told the new cards were a scam, but several people responding to her post wrote that they had called Medicare and confirmed the cards were legitimate.

Information about the new cards can be found by contacting Medicare at 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227).