Copyright 2006 The Deseret News Publishing Co.
By Sara Israelsen
Deseret Morning News
OREM, Utah — If a stranger calls wanting your credit card number in exchange for the dispatch of a medical helicopter to help a loved one in distress — be skeptical.
Orem police are warning residents about a scam by individuals posing as operators of Life Flight, Intermountain Healthcare’s medevac unit.
According to police and hospital officials, a person will call and identify themselves as an IHC employee. The caller will then say that they are calling to inform them that one of their family members has been in an accident.
The caller will then say that a credit card number is needed before the helicopter will transport the injured party to a hospital for medical treatment, said Orem Police Lt. Doug Edwards.
However, the scammers have nothing to do with IHC, said Janet Frank, a company spokeswoman.
“When (Life Flight) picks up a patient, they have nothing to do with money,” Frank said. “When they’re called, they pick the person up.”
A woman in California recently called Orem police, saying she had been told by a caller that her father had been in an accident in Orem.
The woman told an Orem police dispatcher that the caller said the helicopter flight for her injured father could not be guaranteed without the woman’s credit card information, Edwards said.
The skeptical woman called Orem police dispatcher to verify the claim. The dispatcher told her there weren’t any recent accidents in the area or in surrounding cities that would require Life Flight’s assistance.
Frank said Life Flight operators have been aware of the scam for a few weeks and advise anyone who is contacted with a similar request to call police or the fraud division of the Utah Attorney General’s office.
Here’s another reason to be skeptical of a call from medical personnel asking for financial information -- Life Flight operators do not contact families in case of emergency.
That job would fall to police or hospital personnel, Frank said.
And while there is a cost associated with emergency transportation, it is not something crews worry about in the moment of crisis.
“Life Flight is only in the business of treating the patient who needs help,” Frank said. “There will be a bill associated — but that comes later in the mail.”