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UPMC Western Maryland urges citizens to be wary of fraudulent calls

September 3rd, 2020 by WCBC Radio

Several instances of fraudulent phone calls from a bogus “Western Maryland Health System” phone number have been reported through the region over the last few weeks.

    These calls have been reported with both 722 and 301 area codes, and often begin with a recorded message claiming there is a problem with a patient’s social security number. From there, they present an invitation to press a button to speak with someone. These calls are fraudulent and, if engaged with, present a danger of identity theft.

  

 When it comes to telephone calls from UPMC Western Maryland and its vendors, please remember:

 

  • UPMC Western Maryland does not call patients with issues regarding their personal information.
  • In the event a patient has a procedure at UPMC Western Maryland that needs to be scheduled, a representative from the registration department may call, but it is not required that a patient provide their social security number at that time. The patient may elect to provide all personal information face to face at the time of the procedure. 
  • UPMC Western Maryland’s vendors associated with billing never request full social security numbers over the telephone – instead, asking for name, address and date of birth to confirm identity. In rare cases, the final four digits of the social security number is sometimes requested as a final confirmation, but never the entire number.

 

If you feel threatened by a call associated with UPMC Western Maryland, hang up and call your local law enforcement agency, or 240-964-8366 to confirm the validity of the nature of the call.     

One Response to “UPMC Western Maryland urges citizens to be wary of fraudulent calls”

  1. September 03, 2020 at 6:54 pm, jim said:

    But when someone calls from there requesting thousands of dollars for a simple medical procedure…it may sound fraudulent, but is likely very real

    Reply

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