Medicare officials want seniors to sign up for their new prescription program.

They do not want those seniors to sign with a scam artist.

A new fraud afoot features scam operators masquerading as approved Medicare providers in an attempt to obtain personal and financial information from Medicare patients.

They do so by trying to get the seniors to sign up for the new program over the telephone, according to the Better Business Bureau.

“It has been the experience of the BBB that seniors have always been a targeted group,” said Kevin J. Sanders, president of the watchdog group. “It’s tragic when anyone gets scammed, however even more devastating for seniors who generally do not have the ability to rebuild their financial loss.”

Seniors and those who work with them need to know how to identify the legitimate approved Medicare Part D providers from the scam operators.

The BBB offers the following tips for evaluating the various plans being marketed:

• Carefully review the Medicare & You 2006 handbook that’s been provided to every senior citizen.

• Legitimate providers are not allowed to market the drug plans door-to-door or via unsolicited e-mails.

• Legitimate providers are permitted to contact consumers, but they must observe federal and state do-not-call laws and registries. Also, they should be willing to send you information about the plan in the mail, and to wait to obtain any necessary personal and financial information until after you decide to enroll.

• If someone calls you out of the blue to offer a Medicare prescription drug plan and asks for personal and financial information, obtain the person’s name, name of his or her company or agency and their number. Ask the person to send you information about the plan in the mail. Do not provide your bank account number, your Social Security number or any other personal information over the telephone.