At the Alliance, we are committed to providing you with quality health care. This means that we care about protecting your personal information. We want you to know how to protect your information from “vishing.”
“Vishing” is a cybercrime that happens when someone tries to trick you into sharing your sensitive personal information over the phone. If you share your information with the wrong person, they might be able to hack into your personal accounts or sell information about your identity to criminals.
If you are even a little bit suspicious, it is better to hang up than to give away your information to a scammer. If you get a voicemail and think it might be a scam, do not return the call.
How to protect yourself against vishing scams
Sometimes, it can be hard to tell if a phone call is a vishing scam. The good news is that there are ways to protect yourself. Here is how to spot a vishing scam and how to protect yourself.
Calls that might be scams
There are a few common traits in calls from scammers to look out for:
- If you get a phone call from a number you don’t know or from someone you weren’t expecting a call from. This could be a vishing scam. Do not share any sensitive or personal information. Think before you continue the call. If the situation seems suspicious, hang up.
- If someone calls and asks you for sensitive information. Sensitive information can include your usernames and passwords, financial account numbers or social security numbers. If someone asks you for this information over the phone, they might be trying to steal your identity or your money.
- If the caller asks for information from you to confirm who you are before continuing the call. In this situation, you should be extra careful. Scammers want you to react quickly and give away your information. Even if the person who called you seems sincere, it doesn’t mean you can trust them.
- If the caller does not share who they are or who they work for. If you ask, an Alliance employee will always tell you their name and title. Our team will not avoid questions about the call that you are on. If you are on a call and the caller avoids your questions or refuses to answer them, it could be a scammer.
What to do
Here is what to do to protect yourself from scammers:
- Verify the company that is calling. Look up the phone number or company name. Some scammers pretend to call from real companies so that they can trick you. You should also be careful if it’s a company you have not heard of. This could mean that the company is not real, and the call is a scam.
- Hang up. If you are worried that you are on a call with a scammer, hang up. Instead of calling the number back, call the Alliance to make sure that the call was from us. You can call our Member Services Department at 800-700-3874, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
- Don’t answer the phone. If you don’t recognize a phone number that is calling you, don’t answer the call. Let it go to voicemail and listen to the message later. Then, you can decide if you want to call back.
Report calls from scammers
If you think you think you may have gotten a scam call, report the suspected scam to the Alliance’s Member Services Department.
Alliance Member Services Department
800-700-3874
Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
