Scammers try to take advantage
of concern caused by Anthem hackers

February 13, 2015
Santa Paula News

It is bad enough for about 80 million people to learn that their personal information has been compromised in a massive security breach targeting Anthem, but now scammers are even trying to beat the computer hackers to the punch. 

Anthem officials announced last week that hackers accessed the personal information of current and former members of health insurers under the company umbrella - including California Blue Cross and Blue Shield - including obtaining Social Security identification numbers.

“Anthem” according to a statement the company posted online February 6, “was the target of a very sophisticated external cyber attack. These attackers gained unauthorized access to Anthem’s IT system and have obtained personal information from our current and former members such as their names, birthdays, medical IDs/social security numbers, street addresses, email addresses and employment information, including income data. Based on what we know now, there is no evidence that credit card or medical information, such as claims, test results or diagnostic codes were targeted or compromised.”

The message was signed “Joe” as in Joseph R. Swedish, president and CEO of Anthem, Inc. whose desk the communication was credited as coming from.

There is no doubt that Anthem - which is arranging free credit monitoring for those affected by the security breach - is bending over backwards to assist those at risk, but then came the double-whammy: scam emails taking advantage of the situation to try to steal personal information were reported within 48 hours of the announcement of the hacking.

Now Anthem officials are warning current and former members about the scam emails that appear as if they are from the health insurance company and include a “click here” link for credit monitoring.

“These emails are NOT from Anthem,” a company spokesman said in a consumer alert issued last week. “Anthem is not calling members regarding the cyber attack and is not asking for credit card information or Social Security numbers over the phone.”

There is no indication that the scam emails offering to protect people from their personal information being misused through the computer hack is related to the computer hack... it is believed that the communications are just one set of thieves seeing an opportunity created by another group of lawbreakers.

Anthem has stated that current and former members who have been affected by the computer hack would be notified by mail.

And Anthem is warning people not to click links on the emails and not to reply to the messages. Don’t supply any personal information on any websites connected to the emails and absolutely do not open any attachments.

You don’t have to be a former or current Anthem customer to receive such scam emails: often scammers use the names of large companies such as Bank of America knowing that a percentage of recipients will be customers that might take the bait of clicking on a link or visiting a faux website where they will be cyber-robbed. 

For more on the breach visit www.anthemfacts.com/faq

Or call the Anthem hotline at 877-263-7995.





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