Is This A Phone Scam? My Health Insurance Company Calls Me...
December 10, 2014 11:54 AM Subscribe
What can a phone scammer do with your home address and kid's date of birth? I've heard that phone scams are getting "better" in terms of sounding very professional and being able to spoof caller ID, so I'm paranoid that I just told some scammer too much.
So I've been getting calls from a call center with the opening pitch saying that "this is [my health insurance provider] calling to inform you about important services for your child's wellness." They then say they need to verify my identification -- and ask for my home address and kid's date of birth (no SSNs or anything). They also ask if my kid has had any of a decently long list of medical conditions and then asked for the name of my kid's doctor.
Asking for the name of my kid's pediatrician struck me as odd.. because shouldn't my insurance provider already know that? I asked, and the call center person explained that "we don't have a complete record of your family's healthcare providers because we're a different department..." or something like that.
The thing that really struck me as strange is that after answering these questions, they just say "we'd like to inform you that we've activated your child's wellness services, and if you have any health questions you can call the phone number on the back of your insurance card to access a 24-hr nurse hotline." They didn't actually tell me the phone number to call... so I asked what the number was... and the person said, "hmm. I'll get that number for you..." and then there was about a minute of silence until the person came back with an 800 number that I later verified was actually a 24-hr nurse hotline provided by my healthcare insurance company.
Now.. am I being paranoid or does this call sound sketchy to anyone else? I didn't reveal any SSNs, but I did just tell some random person my home address and my kid's dob.... and the only information I got in return is that I can call a number that I already have? If this *is* a real call from my health insurance company, it's not very informative for me and sounds a bit unprofessional. If it isn't a real call from them... what is the scam angle? Am I just going to get on a mailing list for medical spam? Anything worse than that...?
So I've been getting calls from a call center with the opening pitch saying that "this is [my health insurance provider] calling to inform you about important services for your child's wellness." They then say they need to verify my identification -- and ask for my home address and kid's date of birth (no SSNs or anything). They also ask if my kid has had any of a decently long list of medical conditions and then asked for the name of my kid's doctor.
Asking for the name of my kid's pediatrician struck me as odd.. because shouldn't my insurance provider already know that? I asked, and the call center person explained that "we don't have a complete record of your family's healthcare providers because we're a different department..." or something like that.
The thing that really struck me as strange is that after answering these questions, they just say "we'd like to inform you that we've activated your child's wellness services, and if you have any health questions you can call the phone number on the back of your insurance card to access a 24-hr nurse hotline." They didn't actually tell me the phone number to call... so I asked what the number was... and the person said, "hmm. I'll get that number for you..." and then there was about a minute of silence until the person came back with an 800 number that I later verified was actually a 24-hr nurse hotline provided by my healthcare insurance company.
Now.. am I being paranoid or does this call sound sketchy to anyone else? I didn't reveal any SSNs, but I did just tell some random person my home address and my kid's dob.... and the only information I got in return is that I can call a number that I already have? If this *is* a real call from my health insurance company, it's not very informative for me and sounds a bit unprofessional. If it isn't a real call from them... what is the scam angle? Am I just going to get on a mailing list for medical spam? Anything worse than that...?
Call your healthcare provider and ask if they're doing this. In the future, if it doesn't feel right, just hang up.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 12:02 PM on December 10, 2014
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 12:02 PM on December 10, 2014
I was about to say the very same thing as erst. Don't call that 800-nurse hotline, of course, call the billing department maybe. Or if they have a fraud department, call them there.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:03 PM on December 10, 2014
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:03 PM on December 10, 2014
Have you called your health insurance company to see if these are legitimate calls?
posted by Flamingo at 12:03 PM on December 10, 2014
posted by Flamingo at 12:03 PM on December 10, 2014
It sounds weird to me, but I'd just call your health insurance company and verify. (Pure speculation, but information about your child could be used to guess passwords you have on other accounts). Chances are it's just stupid marketing practices at your health insurance provider, combined with nonexistent security practices.
(For instance, one of my credit card companies is *great* about noticing unusual activity on the account, but the robocall to tell you they've detected something tells you to call an 1-800 number which IS NOT LISTED on the card or the bank's website and when you call it, expects you to enter your SSN and credit card number. NOPE. I always call the number on my credit card and deal with it that way when I get the robocall, which is still this sketchy call, giving you a number you can't verify and expecting you to provide your info up front.
For instance 2, one of my financial services companies has security questions after you enter your password, but if you get the answer wrong 3x, the website has you CHANGE THE QUESTION right then and there. WTF?)
posted by crush-onastick at 12:10 PM on December 10, 2014 [2 favorites]
(For instance, one of my credit card companies is *great* about noticing unusual activity on the account, but the robocall to tell you they've detected something tells you to call an 1-800 number which IS NOT LISTED on the card or the bank's website and when you call it, expects you to enter your SSN and credit card number. NOPE. I always call the number on my credit card and deal with it that way when I get the robocall, which is still this sketchy call, giving you a number you can't verify and expecting you to provide your info up front.
For instance 2, one of my financial services companies has security questions after you enter your password, but if you get the answer wrong 3x, the website has you CHANGE THE QUESTION right then and there. WTF?)
posted by crush-onastick at 12:10 PM on December 10, 2014 [2 favorites]
There is a lot of regulation around who can have access to what information. In no way would it be weird for what is essentially a sales agent in an out-bound call centre to not have access to your child's medical records. You want it to be that way.
posted by DarlingBri at 12:13 PM on December 10, 2014
posted by DarlingBri at 12:13 PM on December 10, 2014
I have received a couple of calls kinda like this that were for legit stuff.
posted by bq at 12:40 PM on December 10, 2014
posted by bq at 12:40 PM on December 10, 2014
This sounds like it is probably legit, although certainly follow up with your insurance company about it. Probably your insurance company (and many other insurance companies) has linked up with a 3rd party company that is providing outreach and reminder calls or emails for patients. Like, if your kid has asthma, they'll remind you to get them a flu shot. Stuff like that. So, for reasons of medical privacy, your insurance company has provided them with your name (and possibly some information about medical conditions) but it's common for companies like this to ask these questions, because then they can legitimately say that you released that information yourself and they don't have to get into sticky questions of whether your original authorization to your insurance company allowed them to give your child's health info to a 3rd party.
They probably have a particular script for your insurance company, which is where they're getting that line about the 800 number, but they may be making calls for several different insurance plans so they probably don't have access to the actual card with the 800 number on it.
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 4:14 PM on December 10, 2014
They probably have a particular script for your insurance company, which is where they're getting that line about the 800 number, but they may be making calls for several different insurance plans so they probably don't have access to the actual card with the 800 number on it.
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 4:14 PM on December 10, 2014
Response by poster: So I called up my insurance company... and after going through many automated menus and verifying my information in a very similar fashion to the scam phone call I received, the customer support rep told me that they do NOT make calls like what I described. So.. for people who think this is legit, I guess you should be more paranoid than you are.
My insurance company told me that they do not make outbound calls and ask for personal information to verify identity, and that in the future, I should call the number on the back of my card to ensure that I am speaking with them. They told me that no additional services have been recently "activated" for me... so this call is totally a scam of some kind.
Ugh. So... home address and dob... and me saying "no" repeatedly when asked, does your child have asthma? diabetes? cancer? depression? etc, etc... what could possibly go wrong with that information...? hmm.
posted by mhh5 at 4:47 PM on December 10, 2014
My insurance company told me that they do not make outbound calls and ask for personal information to verify identity, and that in the future, I should call the number on the back of my card to ensure that I am speaking with them. They told me that no additional services have been recently "activated" for me... so this call is totally a scam of some kind.
Ugh. So... home address and dob... and me saying "no" repeatedly when asked, does your child have asthma? diabetes? cancer? depression? etc, etc... what could possibly go wrong with that information...? hmm.
posted by mhh5 at 4:47 PM on December 10, 2014
Best answer: They clearly somehow know that you're a customer of that particular health insurance company, which leads me to think that they probably are a 3rd party company to said health insurance. From there it could be some kind of marketing or just information gathering - for example using your kid's DOB to estimate age and then gathering some kind of statistics on kids health issues?
A customer service rep may well not know about it, particularly if it's some kind of possibly unauthorized to gather data 3rd party - you're lucky if they know about everything their own company is doing.
From a more malicious point of view, kid's date of birth (and similar dates) are sometimes used by people as passwords, or pin numbers. Just... don't do that. You can't do much with an address, nor to a lack of random health issues.
posted by Ashlyth at 7:39 PM on December 10, 2014 [1 favorite]
A customer service rep may well not know about it, particularly if it's some kind of possibly unauthorized to gather data 3rd party - you're lucky if they know about everything their own company is doing.
From a more malicious point of view, kid's date of birth (and similar dates) are sometimes used by people as passwords, or pin numbers. Just... don't do that. You can't do much with an address, nor to a lack of random health issues.
posted by Ashlyth at 7:39 PM on December 10, 2014 [1 favorite]
I think with calls like these - and the way I handle the in instantly - before they they get a chance to start the identity inquisition is to ask what they want - typically it's some bullshit marketing.
I NEVER EVER give details like date of birth or address over the phone. If the information is THAT important to them then they can give me a URL or a letter. There is no fucking way I'm going to tell some call centre these details. I had a call from my bank just the other day and it went like this...
"Good morning, this is Mike from ANZ. Can I please start with your full name and date of birth?"
"No. What do you want?"
"Well, before I can proceed I need to verify your identity"
click...
posted by mattoxic at 3:38 AM on December 11, 2014
I NEVER EVER give details like date of birth or address over the phone. If the information is THAT important to them then they can give me a URL or a letter. There is no fucking way I'm going to tell some call centre these details. I had a call from my bank just the other day and it went like this...
"Good morning, this is Mike from ANZ. Can I please start with your full name and date of birth?"
"No. What do you want?"
"Well, before I can proceed I need to verify your identity"
click...
posted by mattoxic at 3:38 AM on December 11, 2014
Response by poster: It doesn't seem like there's *that* much harm that anyone could do with the information I gave them (other than put me on annoying mailing lists for medical spam, maybe?) since they already knew my health insurance provider and the name of my kid and my name (as well as my phone number). I suspect someone at my insurance company is selling customer list info and some 3rd party is trying to flesh out the data in some kind of data-flip scheme.
And I suppose I'll be ultra-paranoid in the future...
posted by mhh5 at 12:07 PM on December 11, 2014
And I suppose I'll be ultra-paranoid in the future...
posted by mhh5 at 12:07 PM on December 11, 2014
I work for an insurance company that has these health and wellness programs. We call people on the plan all the time to tell them about the program. A call is typically triggered by a claim coming through indicating the member may benefit from speaking with a nurse or a health coach. It's probably one of those calls. We have to ask for those pieces of information due to federal privacy laws surrounding health care. I think you're fine.
posted by Bacon Bit at 1:18 PM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Bacon Bit at 1:18 PM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
My insurer has a program for pregnant women that is very similar to this. They call me a few times per pregnancy and ask a bunch of questions about symptoms of common pregnancy complications, confirm who my doctor is, and make sure that I am actually going to prenatal appointments. Then they give me a number to call if I am having any problems, and send me a huge pile of pregnancy literature. I assume the whole point of the program is to save them money in some way (fewer ER visits if people call the nurse's line first? Complications caught earlier before they become emergencies?).
The first time they called it seemed really suspicious and weird, so I called the main insurance number to verify that it was them before answering any questions. It is definitely them. I am now on my second pregnancy and have had exactly the same calls.
So even though the person you talked to at your insurance company wasn't aware of the program, it just sounds so similar to exactly what my insurer does, including questions about who my doctor is and when my last appointment was, which they should be able to figure out from my records. I think there is a good chance the person you talked to just had bad information. Do you have the exact name of the wellness program so that you could try to find information about it on your insurer's website?
posted by insoluble uncertainty at 1:47 PM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
The first time they called it seemed really suspicious and weird, so I called the main insurance number to verify that it was them before answering any questions. It is definitely them. I am now on my second pregnancy and have had exactly the same calls.
So even though the person you talked to at your insurance company wasn't aware of the program, it just sounds so similar to exactly what my insurer does, including questions about who my doctor is and when my last appointment was, which they should be able to figure out from my records. I think there is a good chance the person you talked to just had bad information. Do you have the exact name of the wellness program so that you could try to find information about it on your insurer's website?
posted by insoluble uncertainty at 1:47 PM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
Any chance you're on medicaid? When I was pregnant I got calls about various wellness services for pregnant women from some call center, and my husband gets them for his asthma. My sister reported the same thing when she was on medicaid. They also called to remind us to get flu shots. Really annoying. I already have a mother to nag me about that.
Never even crossed my mind that it could be a scam, and I don't think it is in your case, either.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 2:24 PM on December 11, 2014
Never even crossed my mind that it could be a scam, and I don't think it is in your case, either.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 2:24 PM on December 11, 2014
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by erst at 12:02 PM on December 10, 2014 [8 favorites]