Watch out for Fraudulent Fraud Inspectors

The FBI warns about cybercriminals posing as Health Fraud Inspectors in order to steal personal information.

In a Public Service Announcement issued Friday, the FBI warned of criminals “impersonating legitimate health insurers and their investigative team members.”

The criminals are targeting both patients and health care providers, impersonating legitimate email and text message communications from trusted parties.

Acording to the FBI, “The messages are designed to pressure victims into disclosing protected health information, medical records, personal financial details, or providing reimbursements for alleged service overpayments or non-covered services.”

To protect yourself, be suspicious of any calls, emails, or texts asking for personal information, even from a trusted source, especially if it seems unexpected or unusual.  Be especially suspicious if there is a sense of threat or urgency in the message.  Usually with scams like this, they want you to react and act before you think. 

If something gets your spidey sense tingling – do not respond in any way, and do not click any links.  Contact your insurer or healthcare provider directly (again, don’t click any links or use contact information listed in a suspicious email) to verify if the communication is legitimate before sharing any information.

With scams getting ever harder to spot thanks to AI deepfakes, this is more important than ever: If you ever get an out-of-the-ordinary message, call, or email, remember to PEAR:

PAUSE – don’t respond right away.  Even if (especially if!) it sounds urgent, come back to it in a few minutes to give yourself time to 

EVALUATE – Think deeply about what is being requested. Why is this person asking me for this? Why would they need it? Does this seem right? Why now? Why me? If there are threats (i.e. you have three days to pay before you are arrested), emotional triggers (i.e. Grandma, I’m in the hospital and need $3000 in Amazon gift cards to get better), or extreme urgency (i.e. I’m your boss and I need this right now or you are fired) those are BIG RED FLAGS that something isn’t right.

AUTHENTICATE – Call the person, business, (or government office, or whatever) that allegedly contacted you, on a number you know to be correct, either that you have on file or found on an internet search.  Never use any contact information provided by whomever contacted you.  If that doesn’t work or you can’t get an answer right away, try searching the internet with a description of what is happening and the word “scam” and see if anything comes up.  For instance, a search for “toll text message scam” brings up all sorts of stories about the unpaid toll scams that have been going around (including this one) so you can be pretty sure that the one you got is fake.

REPORT – If you believe you have been a victim of fraudulent activity, please report the incident to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov. Be sure to submit as much information as possible about the individual or company including name, phone number, mailing or physical address, and email address.