Bob LeFridge  Mar 8

Hey NZ tooteratii...

An older friend is receiving multiple calls from a blocked number, with the caller claiming to be from Health NZ. The first was on Friday, with the caller saying they were "checking patients in outer Canterbury" who are on waiting lists.

While my friend is on a waiting list, she lives in Southland. (Red flag)

Then came the request for NH number, which my friend refused to give to a blocked number and hung up.

Then she rang Southland Hospital who confirmed she's still on the surgical wait list and they knew nothing about the phone calls.

This morning she's received another two calls, about an hour apart. I listened in to the second call and it seems dodgy to me. A woman with a heavy Indian accent was quite pushy in demanding information. Both times my friend said she would not provide personal information to someone using a blocked number, and hung up.

Given the recent ManageMyHealth fiasco, I've advised her to ring Health NZ to see if they can confirm that the calls are kosher.

Is this a scam targeting older people? Or just the Luxon government hiring an offshore call centre to try and reduce waiting lists?

Is anyone else getting these types of calls?

#HealthNZ #Scam #NZ

Show threadNagaram

@BobLefridge

I'm American, but I've never known a government to be so pushy about asking for information they theoretically already have.

At least here all they ask is for my name and date of birth and they have all the other records.

Does an NH number do anything other than healthcare stuff? Like with a name, address, dob, and NH number can they open a credit card?

Personally, I'd stop answering if you're worried. They'll leave a voicemail if it's real usually with names and numbers. If you don't recognize them then don't call back.

Mar 9 at 3:59amWeb