Genesee County Health Department Issues Warning Over Phone Scam

The Genesee County Health Department issued a warning this week about a number of phone scams targeting Genesee County residents.

The scammers are pretending to be from the GCHD, and even have cloned a number from the GCHD office for caller ID. This makes it seem like a legitimate call for anyone on the receiving end. The scammers will then pretend to be from the health department, and start asking for personal information.

This is where the GCHD says that you can take measures to protect yourself. In the press release they said that the GCHD will NEVER ask for personal or financial information over the phone. Michigan Attorney General, Dana Nessel recently published a document to help everyone avoid phone scams that you can see here. The main points are listed below.

• Do you know the number calling? If not start suspicious
• Never give out personal information over the phone
• It's ok, and even encouraged to hang up on someone if you are suspicious
• If the caller is pressuring you to act fast, that should raise a red flag immediately

The state is asking anyone that thinks they have been a target of the phone scam to please report them online here.

We are all probably feeling a little more vulnerable than normal right now, and that's ok. We all have so many questions about healthcare, stimulus checks, unemployment benefits, and a million other things. It's really easy to get caught up in the manic search for the answers that we are looking for. The best advice I can give is to take a minute to slow down if someone calls you with answers, especially if they need confidential information before they give you any answers.

We have to remember that scammers are most likely to strike when we are in a vulnerable position.