Nebraska Medicine is taking steps to cut down on a number of recent telephone “spoofing” incidents.
Spoofing is when a scammer or unscrupulous telemarketer displays an existing, legitimate phone number to trick someone into answering their automated “robocalls.” Often, scammers spoof numbers familiar to you – your spouse, your workplace, or even your doctor. Twice in the last 10 days, scammers have used Nebraska Medicine’s primary toll-free number to send out robocalls.
“We’re working with our telephone carrier’s fraud division to pinpoint where these calls originate,” said Frank Plummer, manager of telecommunications. “Unfortunately, spoofing incidents like these happen to businesses commonly and it’s a constant fight to try to stay on top of them.”
In both recent instances, the call center received an increased number of incoming calls to the toll-free number, a result of the spoofing. The call center staff responded appropriately by apologizing to callers and assuring them the calls did not come from Nebraska Medicine.