LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield is issuing an alert about a recent upsurge in “robocalls” that falsely claim to be made by “Blue Cross Blue Shield.”
The calls appear to market insurance products by using the Blue Cross and Blue Shield brands and coincide with current enrollment periods, according to a news release.
“As a general rule, licensed Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies do not refer to themselves publicly as ‘Blue Cross,’ ‘Blue Shield’ or ‘Blue Cross Blue Shield.’ Legitimate licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association also usually make a point to include specific information to identify its full corporate or trade name in its communications,” according to the release.
Robocallers may also hide their identities with “spoofing” technology, which can make calls appear to be coming from a different telephone number.
“Keeping our members safe from scams is very important to us,” said Curtis Barnett, president and chief executive officer of Arkansas Blue Cross. “Arkansas Blue Cross takes very seriously any unauthorized use of the Blue brand. We have specific guidelines for outbound calls. By sharing this information with our customers, we hope to help them protect themselves.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Here are some guidelines on how to tell if a call is from a bona fide representative of Arkansas Blue Cross and steps that may be taken to verify the authenticity of such calls.
Arkansas Blue Cross personnel won’t:
• Ask for a bank account number. *(Note: on rare occasions, Arkansas Blue Cross customer service representatives may call customers who have issues with payments. These representatives always will confirm their identities as Arkansas Blue Cross representatives by reading the member the amount of the member’s most recent payment.)
• Ask for an entire Social Security number;
• Ask about health information without first verifying the member’s identity;
• Call after 9 p.m. Central Time.
Arkansas Blue Cross representatives will always:
• Introduce themselves and fully identify the company they represent;
• Identify a customer’s health plan, if it is through an employer. (Example: “This
is Mary Jones from Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield calling about your
plan with ABC Company … ”)
• Mention that the call is being recorded for training and quality purposes.
Persons who have doubts as to whether a call is from Arkansas Blue Cross may
follow the following three steps to be sure:
1. Ask for a confirmation number and hang up;
2. Call the number listed on the back of their member ID card;
3. Provide the confirmation number to the customer service representative who answers. The call then will be directed back to the representative who originally called.
Details: https://www.bcbs.com/healthcare-fraud.