Fake emails about reimbursement from the National Health Service. Scammers promise reimbursement of medical expenses

The National Health Fund is reporting another variant of a phishing scam. Criminals illegally use the National Health Fund's logo and the institution's name to lend credibility to fraudulent emails about alleged medical reimbursements.

The message titles include phrases such as "The National Health Fund reimburses for..." or "Reimbursement for...". However, the sender is an e-mail address that does not come from the official domain of the Fund (e.g., random addresses from foreign servers). In the body of the e-mail, the recipient is informed about the possibility of receiving reimbursement for, among other things, medicines purchased at a pharmacy, corrective glasses, medical devices or treatment abroad.

The mechanism of the scammers is simple. The message includes an attachment or link to a form, the completion of which is supposed to be a condition for receiving a supposed refund. The key element of the scam is to phish for payment card details - its number, expiration date and CVV code. In some cases, criminals also try to obtain electronic banking login data.

The NHF stresses that it never asks patients to provide payment card or bank account access data. The fund does not process reimbursements in a way that requires such information to be provided by email.

If you receive a suspicious message, first of all, do not click on links or open attachments. Also, do not give out any financial data or authorization codes.

If you have submitted your data on a fraudulent site, you should immediately contact your bank to block the card. It is also a good idea to report the incident to the police and to the CERT Polska team via the form available at incident.cert.pl.

If in doubt, patients can contact the National Health Fund's 24-hour toll-free hotline at 800 190 590.

Source: NFZ