Have you received a message inviting you to renew your Vitale card urgently? Do not answer it: it is a phishing scam intended to extract your personal and banking data.
Scammers are never idle, even during the holiday season! They are always on the lookout for a new method to extract money and personal data from their victims. To do this, they do not hesitate to use classic techniques, always effective, but by offering them in several variations, so that the consumer does not get used to them.
Cybercriminals often impersonate trusted institutions to steal their victims’ personal data. So, they sometimes pretend to be Health Insurance and try, by any means possible, to obtain your social security number and your banking details.
Most often, scammers send an SMS claiming that your Vitale card has expired and that you need to renew it, with a link taking you to a fake site that asks you to pay a few euros to carry out the operation. Other times, they offer you a paid online service for updating the Vitale card or inform you of a Health Insurance reimbursement with a clickable link, intended to take your bank details.
They may also ask you to update your file to ensure that your rights are maintained or even make you believe that fraud on your bank or Ameli account is in progress. To better trap you, the technique is always the same, namely imposing a very short response time and generating a feeling of urgency, in order to prevent you from thinking clearly and taking a step back from the situation.
In the latest scam, the crooks send you an email with the subject “End of your insurance contract”. The email states: “Dear Ameli beneficiary, we would like to remind you of the importance of renewing your Vitale card to ensure uninterrupted access to our services (…) In the event that no update is carried out, access to your account and key functionalities may be briefly suspended from 12/31/2024. We thank you for your cooperation and assure you of our constant commitment to providing you with quality and secure services.“.
At the end of the message, a ‘Renew my card’ button sends you to a fraudulent site using Health Insurance codes. In short, this is a variation of the famous SMS ‘Your Vitale card has expired’. Like they say, it’s in old pots that we make the best dishes!
Remember that Ameli will never ask for your Ameli account login details, your medical information or your banking details, whether by message or by telephone. If you receive a message or call from them, carefully check the sender’s email address or number. Never click on the link and prefer to go directly to the official website. If any steps are necessary, you can do them from your personal space.
If you are ever the target of a scam online, by email or by SMS, immediately forward the message to Signal Spam, Pharos, or directly to 33 700, the platform specializing in reporting scams. You can also report these fraudulent messages to the website-signalement.gouv.fr. Then block the sender to stop being bothered and delete the message in question.