Fraud Protection: Seven Ways to Ruin a Scammer’s Day
Follow these tips to safeguard your personal information, recognize suspicious emails, and report fraud to prevent becoming a victim.
If your only experience with scams is from reading or hearing about others’ experiences, you may wonder how anyone could have been duped so easily. Surely, we wouldn’t give out our Social Security numbers or hand over our bank account information to a stranger! Of course, the nearly 70,000 people who were scammed out of a total of $1.3 billion in 2022 probably thought that, too.
Here’s how to make sure you’re not next:
- Never hand over your personal information to someone you don’t know. Legitimate companies like Medicare, the IRS and your bank will never call or email you asking for this kind of information.
- Know how to spot a suspicious email. Scam emails are often sent from an email address that doesn’t match the company name or are from a public domain, such as “@gmail.com.” And if there are misspellings and links that go somewhere other than to the related company, be suspicious.
- Check your monthly summaries from SCAN as soon as they come. If there is a service or product listed you don’t recognize on your Explanation of Benefits, contact SCAN Member Services right away.
- Take time to research and talk over decisions beforehand with people you trust. Scammers will often pressure you to act now, “before it’s too late.” They know the more time you have to think things over and the more people you talk to, the more likely they are to be found out.
- Check for documentation if you get a call, email or text asking you to pay a medical debt other than your copay. If there isn’t any, it could be a scam.
- Turn on multifactor authentication on your online accounts. This adds extra security so scammers can’t get into your accounts even if they have your passwords and usernames.
- If you do think you’ve been the victim of fraud, report it! There’s no shame in being conned by a professional crook who is very good at getting people to do things they never thought they would. One thing is for certain: Not reporting it only helps the scammers by allowing them to continue taking advantage of others.
Have you been scammed or encountered something suspicious? Report it to one of these places:
- ReportFraud.ftc.gov
- U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging’s Fraud Hotline: 1-855-303-9470
To report suspected fraud, waste and abuse (FWA) related to SCAN Health Plan, you may contact SCAN in one of these ways:
- SCAN Hotline on EthicsPoint: 1-877-863-3362 or visit www.ethicspoint.com
- Email: FraudWaste&AbuseProg@scanhealthplan.com
- Online: Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Form
A Good Rule of Thumb
Don’t click on a link, download an attachment or click on a pop-up message in unsolicited emails, texts or social media sites until you’ve made sure the sender can be trusted. Watch out for scams that say your computer has been affected by a virus and ask for payment to fix it.
