in 2010 Synovate was paid over 38.5 MILLION dollars to conduct various survey services - this is absolutely insane! governmentcontractswon.com provides access to all related contract data. Why DoD is wasting FY Funding on outside companies to conduct patient satisfaction surveys instead of utilizing service members in the Customer Relations Job Series is beyond me. Fraud, Waste and Abuse 38.5 + times, if you ask me. If MEDCOM is that concerned about the services provided they need to take the initiative to have open forum discussions with the patients, and it would be FREE! then they could allocate the 38.5 million dollars to the Morale, Welfare and Recreation funding campaigns and actually contribute to the morale of the military family. Unforgivable.
These losers tried to call searching for information they were not entitled to while posing as a Tri-Care survey. Since there are so many reports here I have to wonder why hasn't the owner of this number been arrested and the message machine taken down for fraud? I got a warning email about this number being used this way 5 days ago so why the delay? This number has an address associated with it and law enforcement could drive over and remove this identity theft criminal any afternoon. Or they could just have the number terminated by the phone company right away and pick up the criminal later. Why leave this answering machine in operation?
I have not been personally contacted by this number, (312) 258-4260, by someone acting as Tricare representative. It is a scam originating out of Chicago, IL. Do not give out any PII (personally identifiable information) on yourself or anyone else for that matter.
This is called PHISHING, and once they have your SSN, DOB (date of birth) and other data, they'll commit identity fraud, and cause all sorts of financial crimes and mayhem, ultimately affecting a persons' credit, potentially bankrupting the individual. It'll take years to sort out the mess.
If you are contacted by ANYONE asking for PII, DO NOT give out any information, take down the number, hang up, and report it to your superiors.
(U) Background: Recently there has been a rash of calls to military
personnel from individuals (NFI) who claimed to be with DoD and
requested information under the guise of it being a TRICARE national
survey.
(U) Synopsis: On 15 Sep 10, an active duty Hurlburt
Field (HFLD) Airmen was contacted about a TRICARE
survey. The member was asked for personal information
such as: Social Security Number, home address, Date of
Birth. Additionally, the caller asked about deployment status and length of
deployments. When the Airmen asked why personal
information TRICARE already had on file was being asked,
the caller immediately hung up. The Airmen attempted to call
the number back, but no one answered. The member saved
the phone number (312) 258-4260. An online phone look up
was conducted the number originates from Chicago, Illinois
area. Using whocallsme.com showed there is a blog about the above
number and calling others around the United States. The Investigations
section called the above number and an answering machine picked-up and
spoke about a TRICARE survey. The national and local TRICARE offices
were contacted and verified they do conducted surveys; however, they
never request the above type personal information. If you receive a
call from anyone about a TRICARE and believe it to be false contact your
local TRICARE office (HFLD 881-2620). The below link is some added
safeguard measures from the TRICARE website.
http://www.tricare.mil/mybenefit/home/Medical/RightsAndResponsibilities/P
rotectingPersonalInformation.
Investigations Comments: If you receive a call that request personal
information do not disclose it. Ask the caller basic type questions to help
ensure you determine if the call is legitimate i.e. a call back number, there
name and employee number, the name of the company needing the
information, and why they need your personal information. Remember
your personal information is yours and you need to protect it.