Avoiding COVID vaccine scams: Bellin shares what to look for
GREEN BAY (WLUK) --While vaccine eligibility continues to open up, so does the risk of COVID vaccine scams.
The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection says it's seen an influx of scams related to COVID vaccine appointments.
Scammers are pretending to be healthcare providers, using vaccine appointments as a way to obtain personal information.
Bellin Health team leader Diane Gaywont said, "Occasionally we do get that caller that calls in and says, 'how do we really know it's you calling us?'"
Gaywont says their callers will always identify themselves as 'Bellin Health.'
"You can always call us back if you feel more comfortable about that, just to make sure that you're talking to someone who is indeed who they say they are," Gaywont said.
Bellin Health says they will never call you and ask for your credit card information.
Instead, they may ask for a few identifying factors like your name, to make sure you're the person they want to be talking to.
"When we contact you, we're going to ask you three identifiers. So whether that's your name, your date of birth, the last four of your social, your address," Gaywont said.
If the call gets sent to voicemail, Bellin will leave a message.
When it comes to email messages, Gaywont said, "Everything we do is through secured messaging through our MyBellin app, so it comes to them straight from MyChart and lets them know in their email that they have a message waiting for them and then they can log right into that app and view the message. None of their personal health information is going to be emailed directly to them just to keep that secured and safe."
To learn more about how to avoid COVID related scams, click here.
