Scam Phone Call - or Not?

[DancingFerret]

Elderly relative (aged 88) received a phone call last week from someone saying they were from the local hospital, asking him to confirm his National Insurance number and hospital number. As he's reasonably on the ball, he told them if they were calling from the hospital and had his phone number, they'd also be able to see the other information and then he put the phone down.

It has me wondering, though, how would scammers use NI and hospital numbers? Identity theft, maybe?

Did he get details of what hospital was calling, is he currently undergoing any treatment or waiting for test results? The National Insurance number is an odd request- I've never known medical records to identify you this way. It's always date of birth for us. I don't think they have ever asked for NHS number either, so I'm probably leaning scam. Although I wouldn't have thought this information was very valuable to them. As a general rule of thumb though I wouldn't give out any personal information to someone who called so he's done the right thing.

If they phone again I think he should say he is not comfortable giving personal information over the phone and perhaps they should put whatever they are calling about into a letter.

I get calls from Virgin media I'm fairly sure are genuine but they ask me to confirm personal details and I won't so we always end up at a standstill.

When I've had calls from the hospital they've always given the name of the hospital and department. I've been asked to confirm details (name, address, etc) but never national insurance number.

I would assume it's a scam. If they were calling from the hospital, they'd obviously have his hospital number because it would be right in front of them on the screen. Also, I can't imagine anyone would know their hospital number! It's useful for internal recordkeeping, but not something the average person could rattle off.

There would be no need for his NI number in relation to his hospital care.

Hospital number might be irrelevant, I suspect it was the NI number they were after, for identity theft.

Are you sure he couldn't be mistaken about the request for a National Insurance number?

Could the request have been for an NHS number or hospital number?

We deal with phone calls from many hospitals on a weekly basis and I often get asked for this even if it is them phoning us. It is to make sure that they are speaking to the patient. They don't know who else has access to that phone number.

When hospitals phone it is often from a withheld number or one that ends in a lot of zeros. Can he check the number that called? It would be a shame if it was genuine and he missed an important message because of a misunderstanding.