Expired Vital Card? A well-crafted SMS scam…
Pirates are truly amazing people who take good care of us. When it is not one of our parcels that is blocked by the Post Office, it is our CPF rights that will soon no longer be valid. Really, thank you for caring about us. Today, it’s even at the level of our health that it happens since they want help us keep our Carte Vitale up to date. We explain to you.
Carte Vitale: what’s up, doctor?
We have in fact observed the resurgence of the Carte Vitale scam. Surely because the holidays have started and no one wants to find themselves unable to receive care hundreds, even thousands of kilometers from home. There is therefore a good chance that you will receive this kind of SMS supposed to come from the Health Insurance.
The malicious therefore announces to you that your Carte Vitale has expired and that you must update it immediately in order to continue to benefit from your rights. We therefore kindly ask you to click on a link that sends you to sites which, my faith, seem rather correct and credible. A Health Insurance logo, the same shades of blue, map photos, a “News” section that links to official sites… For once, the pirates really did their best to take care of their work. Your primary task is to fill in your name, date of birth and e-mail address.
Once this is done, it’s time to fill in the fields for your address and your telephone number.
Then you must choose how you will receive your new Carte Vitale with several options: free with La Poste or Chronopost at €3.90 or more.
Ameli by pretty
The scammer doesn’t really have to do much to discover your name. On the other hand, getting his hands on your bank details is what gives him the strength to get up in the morning. So, last but not least, you are asked to return them to pay the postage. Funny thing, if you take the free option, you will be offered a ‘refund’. Enough to ? Mystery, but everything is good to extract your banking information. Because the goal is of course to rob you: the grand finale of the scam! It is therefore at this stage, when you are most confident, that the phishing attempt succeeds. Now it’s up to the cybercriminals to make good use (at least for him) of the information he has just extracted from you, including the 3-digit cryptogram.
Before getting there, here are some tips to avoid falling into the trap.
Social protection
The first thing to do is to check if the link on which you are asked to click is indeed an official link. However, the only one that really is is ameli.fr. It is clear, clean and precise. Addresses like monplansante.fr, ameli-infos.com, infosante-vitale.com Where connection-direct.fr bring you, them, into the mouth of the wolf! For phone numbers, same thing: only 3646 is used to be able to reach the Health Insurance. Also note that your vital card does not expire, you just have to update it from time to time. At worst, if you doubt its operation, you can go and have it tested in a pharmacy to find out for sure. A quick tour of the site Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr can also open your eyes before committing the irreparable.
As good Samaritans that you are, you also have the option of reporting the scam by forwarding the offending SMS to 33700 or on the website 33700.fr.
Now you can go on a quiet vacation!
