Blue Cross Blue Shield scams

1. 1

   A cold call offering a "BCBS plan"

   A caller quotes a monthly premium far below what real coverage costs and pressures you to enroll today. What they are selling is usually a limited-benefit or "health-sharing" product that is not insurance at all, or nothing whatsoever — they take the payment details and disappear. Licensed agents do not require a same-day decision.

2. 2

   The "your new card is ready" text

   A text says your Blue Cross member card needs to be reissued and links to a page asking for your date of birth, Social Security number and current member ID. The card is not being reissued. Those four fields are enough to bill care in your name.

3. 3

   Claim and Explanation of Benefits phishing

   An email styled as an Explanation of Benefits says a claim was denied or a payment is pending, with a link to "review". The link goes to a copy of the member portal login. Credentials entered there give access to your full claims history, which is a rich source for the next call.

4. 4

   Open enrollment pressure

   From November through mid-January, the volume of these calls multiplies, because during open enrollment an unsolicited insurance call is not itself strange. Scammers know the window and staff up for it.

• A caller offers a Blue Cross plan but cannot name which licensee (Anthem, Highmark, Premera, and so on) they represent
• The premium is far below every other quote you have seen
• You are told the price is only good if you enroll on this call
• A text or email asks for your Social Security number to "reissue" a member card
• The sender address is not your plan's real domain, or the link goes somewhere that is not your plan's site
• You are asked to pay a premium by gift card, wire, Zelle or a payment app
• The "agent" discourages you from calling the number on the back of your card to confirm

• Hang up and call the number printed on the back of your member card. That number is the only one worth trusting.
• Never give a Social Security number, member ID or bank details to someone who called you, no matter what they already seem to know.
• Verify any agent through your state's Department of Insurance licence lookup before you enroll in anything.
• Check your Explanation of Benefits statements for care you did not receive — that is how medical identity theft is usually caught.
• If you gave up your member ID, tell your plan immediately and ask them to flag the account for potential medical identity theft.

Medical identity theft is slower to unwind than card fraud because the bad data lands in medical records, not just a statement. Ask your plan for a full claims history, dispute anything you did not receive in writing, and request an accounting of disclosures from any provider that billed. If a Social Security number was given up, file at IdentityTheft.gov and place a fraud alert with the three credit bureaus. If you paid for a plan that does not exist, dispute the charge with your card issuer as services-not-rendered.