Residents in France are being warned of a new and convincing scam letter in operation that claims to be from the French social security Assurance Maladie.
Internet users have highlighted the scam on social media after receiving the fake letter through their letterbox.
A photo of the letter can be seen below.
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It informs the unnamed reader that their social security account - and carte Vitale health card - is at risk of suspension until they authenticate their account.
“As part of the national policy on the protection of personal data and the fight against fraud, the Caisse Primaire Assurance Maladie is implementing a new procedure to secure access to your Ameli account and your carte Vitale. This approach aims to ensure that only legitimate account holders can access their rights and benefits, by strengthening authentication controls and the protection of sensitive data,” states the letter in French.
It says recipients must use their smartphone to scan a QR code printed in the letter to ‘authenticate’ their personal data.
Adding a sense of urgency, the letter states if the action is not completed, the recipient's account will be suspended:
“You have 72 hours to complete this validation. After this, access to your Ameli account may be temporarily suspended as a security measure until your identity is fully verified.”
Scanning unknown QR codes can have several potential effects.
Often, they take you to a website, which when used by scammers mimic legitimate sites used by official authorities or companies, with a similar URL code and similar home page.
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These websites may ask for your personal data such as email addresses, social security information, and passwords, which hackers can use in a 'phishing' attempt or to log into your accounts.
Alternatively, scanning the code may install a virus on the device such as Malware or spyware.
The Connexion has not been able to confirm the effects of scanning the QR code in the scam above, but authorities always advise against scanning unknown codes.
High-quality scam
The letter is fraudulent – as confirmed by Assurance Maladie – and likely an attempt at ‘phishing’, trying to catch people’s personal information to be sold on or used as part of a later scam.
Perhaps most convincingly, at first glance the letter seems authentic.
It has the correct logo for Assurance Maladie positioned as it would be in official communication and follows the usual outline of a letter from the service.
Unlike many other scams, it uses correct grammar and spelling throughout, alongside an ‘official’ tone that is difficult to distinguish from legitimate communication.
It even warns the reader against scams, urging people not to hand over their personal information when asked by text or email as an additional security precaution.
Letter is missing key information
However, a tell-tale sign that the letter is fake is that it is not addressed to anyone personally, and does not include personal information such as the person’s Social Security number.
In addition, official authorities such as Assurance Maladie do not threaten account closure or suspension against users (especially via a letter or email), and do not ask for activities to be completed in a short, hour-based timeframe.
If you receive something and you are unsure if it is a scam, you can check online to see if anyone else has received a similar communication.
Authorities such as Assurance Maladie often have a section of their website offering advice on how to protect against scams.
You can also contact the service by phone, email, or by visiting an office to confirm with a worker if the communication is legitimate.
As the scam letter states, you should never hand over your personal information, and services will not contact you requesting information they should already have such as passwords, emails, etc.
