How to Spot Spoof Calls- Keeping You and Your Patients Safe
What is spoofing?
Spoofing is a technique used by phone scammers to illegally impersonate an individual or company in an attempt to steal someone's personal information. Common spoofing tactics include using local area codes, false caller ID and familiar numbers.
Recently, we have seen an uptick in reports of scammers spoofing Carilion numbers. These calls are virtually untraceable, so it is important to stay informed and educate patients on how to spot and respond to a scam call.
If a call appears to be from Carilion but sounds suspicious, hang up.
How to keep patients safe:
Remind patients that if a call appears to be from Carilion but sounds suspicious, hang up and call their provider or the main Carilion phone number at 800-422-8482 to verify the call was legitimate.
All calls from Carilion should be expected by the patient and will be about recent or upcoming appointments.
Additional Tips:
It is difficult to spot a spoofing call by the caller ID alone. Here are some things anyone can do to protect themselves from phone scams:
- Never give out personal information.
- Don’t answer calls from unknown numbers.
- If you answer the phone and do not know the person on the line, hang up.
- To verify the call, hang up and use official contact information to call the organization the caller was claiming to be with.
- If the person on the phone asks you to hit a button to stop getting calls, hang up.
- Do not respond to any questions, especially those that can be answered with “yes” or “no.”
For More Information
Learn more at Caller ID Spoofing | Federal Communications Commission.
Spoof calls are phone scammers pretending to be someone else in an attempt to steal personal information.
Keep patients safe by reminding them not to give out sensitive information over the phone.
If a call seems to be from Carilion but sounds suspicious, hang up and call your provider to verify the call.
