Beware of this Vitale card scam that targets its victims by SMS


A Vitale card scam by SMS is claiming more and more victims in France. Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr warns about this new dishonest practice which can be expensive.

If you or a member of your entourage receive an SMS asking you to urgently renew your Vitale card, beware. This scam, which has been very active since mid-December, has already claimed thousands of victims. It is one of the main concerns of cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, which warns about this practice in the media.

For several months, several million French people have received a message on their mobile inviting them to update or renew their precious Vitale card. In the body of the message is a link that refers to a website that looks like the Health Insurance. The insured is asked to provide an address to receive his new Vitale card, then to pay a meager sum to validate the operation.

But this is where the trap lies. By communicating their banking information, the victims risk being fleeced from several hundred euros, and not just a few cents of the transaction initially announced. According to Jean-Jacques Latour, director of expertise for the victim assistance platform cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, the scammers then make purchases online and sometimes go so far as to call the victims to have the operations validated. And rather on Friday evening, so as not to take the risk that the victim calls his bank in stride.

Health insurance never asks you for personal information by email or SMS

“The scammer will have all the information to be able to make his attack credible.he explains. He will call you, tell you ‘You are indeed Mr. or Mrs. so and so who lives in such and such a place and who has such and such a bank card number’. And there, announcing fraud on his bank card, the victim is put in confidence. She will be able to give in to the various manipulations that the cybercriminal will make her do.” Believing to get rid of a fraud, the victim instead falls into the trap.

To avoid being scammed, remember that the health insurance never asks for the transmission, by email or SMS, of personal elements. Updating the Vitale card is completely free of charge, in a pharmacy.



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