Protect Yourself and Report the Latest Frauds, Scams, Spams, Fakes, Identify Theft Hacks and Hoaxes
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Did you receive a robocall from Anthem Health Insurance, claiming 'must confirm information? Did they then instruct you to call 833-6366-0996 or pass this message along or something similar?
Well, don't fall for it. It is a scam, and if you call them back or follow their instructions you will lose money and possibly your identity!
Anthem itself has identified this scam, calling it "voice phishing". The calls claim to be from Blue Cross Blue Shield and can often identify a member by first and last name and sometimes, their Primary Care Physicians (PCP). If you call the scammers back, they typically ask for your full name, address, date of birth, and member IDs.
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield will never provide a caller with the name of a PCP without first verifying that they are speaking to the member.
The originating phone numbers for these phone calls may display on your caller ID as a person or company you know. This is called 'spoofed' because the caller ID information displayed is fake. Many of the calls are made from (978) 783-0250, (289) 800-0303 or (547) 818-4222, but are not limited to only these phone numbers. You might even get more than one call a day.
See more information about this Robocall scam on Anthem's website.
Don't fall for it. It is a scam. Think about it for one minute: have you ever heard of ANY company calling up and saying they owe you a refund? And this recording claims to represent 2 different companies, apple and Microsoft, who are direct competitors. If you call them back or follow their instructions you will lose money and possibly your identity!
Just ignore it and block their number. These calls are not authorized by, or specific to, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and you should not provide any personal information to the callers.
Generally, it is helpful to avoid answering any calls you do not recognize, so you have time to consider and research any demands that might have been left on voicemail. There are now free phone apps that help to intercept calls that are know to be coming from scammers. One that we have found to be very effective is TrueCaller. It displays any known information about callers as the calls come in, and alerts you about calls coming from numbers that others have reported to be scams.
Anthem recommends writing down the phone number and reporting it to your local consumer protection bureau or filing a consumer complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) or Federal Trade Commission (FTC) via their websites. You can also file a report with Anthem's member services at the number located on the back of your member ID card.
Apple offers the following advice:
If you get a suspicious phone call or voicemail:
Scammers spoof phone numbers and use flattery and threats to pressure you into giving them information, money, and even iTunes gift cards. Always verify the caller's identity before you provide any personal information. If you get an unsolicited call from someone claiming to be from Apple, hang up and contact us directly.
Tech support scams are an industry-wide issue where scammers use scare tactics to trick you into paying for unnecessary technical support services that supposedly fix contrived device, platform, or software problems.
Scammers may call you directly on your phone and pretend to be representatives of a software company. They might even spoof the caller ID so that it displays a legitimate support phone number from a trusted company. They can then ask you to install applications that give them remote access to your device. Using remote access, these experienced scammers can misrepresent normal system output as signs of problems.
Cybercriminals don't just send fraudulent email messages and set up fake websites. They might also call you on the telephone and claim to be from Microsoft. They might offer to help solve your computer problems or sell you a software license. Once they have access to your computer, they can do the following:
Trick you into installing malicious software that could capture sensitive data, such as online banking user names and passwords. They might also then charge you to remove this software.
There are several websites that focus on reports of scam phone calls.
The links below go to pages on these other websites were you can read reports about the scams associated with this phone number (855-687-1444, claiming This is Microsoft. This call is to inform you that your Microsoft license key has expired):
There are a number of common telephone scams, such as:
and some new and as yet, uncommon scams.
There are several websites that focus on reports of scam phone calls. See these:
See these pages for guidance as applicable to your specific situation:
For a comprehensive list of national and international agencies to report scams, see this page.