Fake MyChart emails and texts promise a free Medicare health kit, then ask for card numbers or logins. Your real MyChart account was not hacked.
Scammers are sending emails and texts that look like they come from MyChart and offer a free Medicare health kit. The Better Business Bureau is warning patients, especially seniors. Jo Ann Deal of the BBB raised the alarm on KNOE's Good Morning ArkLaMiss in Monroe, Louisiana. The kit does not exist.
MyChart is the patient portal made by Epic Systems. Doctors use it to send appointment notices, test results, prescription updates and messages. Health systems across the U.S. are now warning about a growing campaign that copies the MyChart name. Because so many patients get real MyChart notices, the fake ones look familiar and believable.
The offers go by several names. Some versions may use other free wellness products.
One version sends people to a survey. At the end, it asks for financial information to cover shipping for a free first-aid and medical supply kit. A complaint filed with the Federal Trade Commission describes a person in their 70s who entered a Mastercard number to pay $9.95 for shipping. Another attempted charge of $29.95 quickly followed.
Other versions are more dangerous. They try to steal MyChart usernames, passwords or verification codes. An earlier campaign used a fake MyChart message about a serious test result to push people into downloading malware, which is software meant to do harm.
Getting one of these messages does not mean hackers broke into your hospital's computer system or your MyChart account. Health systems say the criminals are only borrowing a name people trust. This tactic is called social engineering, which means tricking people into trusting a message that is fake.
MyChart says it does not run giveaways. It also says any email claiming MyChart is giving away a product is fraudulent. MyChart is a patient portal, not a Medicare benefits program.
The steps are in the alert box above. The short version: do not click, do not answer the survey, do not give out card or login details, and delete the message.
The wording will likely keep changing, so the kit name is not the safest clue. The request is. A real health message does not ask you to pay for a free gift or hand over a password or code. The reports do not say how many people have been targeted. They also do not say how many have lost money.
If a message offers a free kit and asks for a card number or login, delete it. MyChart does not give away products.
The Attala County Sheriff's Office in Mississippi says scam calls are reaching residents, and a call that sounds official may not be.
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