Health & insurance scams

Blue Cross Blue Shield scams usually take one of three shapes: a call selling a "BCBS plan" that is not real insurance, a text saying your new member card is ready and needs your details to ship, or a phishing email about a claim. BCBS will never cold-call asking for your Social Security number or bank details to keep coverage active.

UnitedHealthcare scams centre on Medicare Advantage enrollment: a caller offering extra benefits, a "free" grocery or OTC card, or a plan review, who needs your member ID and Medicare number to proceed. UnitedHealthcare does not cold-call to enroll you, and giving out a Medicare number is what makes the call profitable.

State Farm scams usually involve someone posing as a local agent — the brand's agents are genuinely local, which makes the impersonation easy. They sell counterfeit policies, ask for premiums by payment app, or show up after a storm claiming to handle your claim. Every real State Farm agent is listed in the agent locator at statefarm.com.

GEICO scams involve fake auto policies sold at impossible prices, cloned quote sites that harvest your driver's licence and bank details, and claim-payout phishing after an accident. A real GEICO policy can always be confirmed by logging in at geico.com or calling 1-800-207-7847 — never by trusting a document you were emailed.

Progressive scams centre on counterfeit auto policies and fake "compare rates" sites that harvest your personal details. Progressive's real comparison tool runs on progressive.com; a policy that does not appear when you log in there does not exist, no matter what the emailed ID card looks like.