Starbound Academy

A medical lab data breach: how not to fall for "calls from the clinic"

Starbound Academy · Lesson 3 · For elders new to tech

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What happened

This week a large medical lab said outsiders got into its system for ordering tests and looking up results. The company believes some patient data was accessed and is still finding out what. Which data, and whose, is not yet known.

Why it matters to you

After news like this, scammers often call or text pretending to be the lab, a doctor or an insurer: "your results are ready," "confirm your details," "pay this bill." This can happen to any careful person, and there is no shame in it. (The link from breaches to scam calls is general advice, not a fact about this specific case.)

3 do-now steps

  1. Don't give details on a call you didn't make. Hang up and call back yourself using the number on your card, bill or your doctor's website.
  2. Don't tap links in messages about "results" or "bills." Open the website or app yourself, the way you usually do.
  3. Check your insurance letters and bills. If you see a service you never had, call your insurer at the number on your card.

How to spot it

Rush ("urgent, today"); asking for your insurance number, Social Security number or a code from a text; payment by gift card or wire transfer; a texted link to "see your results."

If it happened to you

Don't blame yourself. Call your bank or insurer at the number on your card. Ask someone you trust to help. In the U.S.: recovery plan at www.identitytheft.gov/databreach, report fraud at reportfraud.ftc.gov/, FTC phone 1-877-438-4338 [1][2]. If your Social Security number was exposed, you can freeze your credit [1]. Outside the U.S., contact your bank and the police.

"A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself…" (Proverbs 22:3, KJV)

Sources

  1. FTC / IdentityTheft.gov, data breach steps and credit freeze: www.identitytheft.gov/databreach; www.identitytheft.gov/Steps
  2. FTC fraud reporting: reportfraud.ftc.gov/. Phone number from www.identitytheft.gov/Steps.

With care, the Starbound team