State officials cracked down on 10 fake Affordable Care Act websites that were masquerading as official "Covered California" resources, the state's attorney general said.
The 10 sites, which belong to private insurance companies and brokers, cropped up in the midst of nationwide concern about potential fraud as the new healthcare law rolls out. They were removed after a month-long investigation, Reuters reported.
"These websites fraudulently imitated Covered California in order to lure consumers away from plans that provide the benefits of the Affordable Care Act," California Attorney General Kamala Harris said in a statement. "My office will continue to investigate and shut down these kinds of sites."
Officials have not been specific about the extent of the fraud, which could be occurring in states nationwide. Nicholas Pacilio, Harris' spokesman, told Reuters that attorneys general from several states have discussed the topic of fraud.
The California websites used names like "Californiahealthbenefitexchange.com" to mimic the Covered California site; customers who searched through Google to find the state's own insurance exchange instead saw ads for the fake sites.
Some of the imposter websites even used the state insurance exchange's logo and its name.
Customers who want to sign up for insurance should go directly to the state's site, Harris said, adding that outside policies may not be eligible for subsidies. She did not list the names of the businesses involved in the now-removed websites.
The fake sites are not the only examples of fraud related to Obamacare. In September, Better Business Bureaus around the country told people to beware of fraudulent telemarketers who were calling customers with fake information. On the pretense of spreading information about the Affordable Care Act, the telemarketers were garnering personal information for identity theft.
See Now: OnePlus 6: How Different Will It Be From OnePlus 5?
