Many French people have recently received this fraudulent message and many have almost been trapped.
“I almost did something stupid!” Sylvianne (first name has been changed) still blames herself. A few days ago, this sixty-year-old received a text message telling her that her health card was about to expire. Worried about seeing her green document become unusable, she then clicks on the link provided to, she believes, renew it. Without thinking, by his own admission, “because I needed my health card to go to the optician to change my glasses.”
Faced with the “urgency” of the situation, she begins to fill out the form: name, first name, postal address and telephone number on the first page. A second asks him to choose a method of sending the document: with La Poste, with receipt within 3 or 5 days for 95 cents, or with Chronopost to receive it in 2 days for 1.90 euros. The page to “proceed with payment” is then displayed. It was at that moment that this resident of the south of France realized the scam: “the Carte Vitale is free,” she said to herself. Even shipping.
She then has the reflex to close the internet page, even if she had started to write down her bank card numbers. Good luck to her: as she did not validate, she avoided providing her bank details to a fraudster.
Because in fact, this message received by Sylvianne, as by thousands of other French people in recent days, is indeed a fake (see the photo). But how can you easily detect it when the words “AMELI” appear clearly? The first rule to know is simple: the Vitale card does not have an expiration date. Unlike the bank card, it is valid for life. If updates need to be made, your doctor or pharmacist can do them directly.
Furthermore, social security never sends SMS asking for your bank card number. Also, if there is a link in the SMS, it must begin with “ameli.fr/”. If this is not the case, it is a fake site that will scam you. You should definitely not click and, even less, fill out and validate any form. Also note that the “news” at the bottom of the page are often not from the correct year and that spelling errors are left. “Send” for example, in this case, instead of “Sending”.
Anyone who clicks on the link and completes the process is exposed to fraudulent use of their bank account. As scammers have access to your data, they can then use it to extract money directly from you. You must therefore cancel your card if the form has been completed to the end.
While this type of scam is common and there are numerous alerts on the subject, prevention must still be done to avoid unpleasant surprises, although they continue to happen, tirelessly.
