Consumers in Pennsylvania are being warned about receiving suspicious insurance sales calls, particularly the robocall kind.
The Pennsylvania Insurance Department has issued an advisory due to the increase of robocalls around the open enrollment period. According to state insurance commissioner Jessica Altman, not only have robocalls increased considerably across the country, but it is also now difficult to tell the difference between a company legally selling insurance and a scam.
“Consumers should always be wary of unsolicited health insurance sales calls,” Altman said in a release. “If a consumer is contacted by an automatic robocall about buying insurance or changing a plan, and hasn’t previously listed a phone number, they should contact their agent or insurance company before making any decisions.”
KDKA 2 News reported that there are several ways consumers can avoid robocalls. They can add their number to the Federal Trade Commission’s National Do Not Call Registry, since legitimate telemarketers will not call any numbers on the registry. Consumers can also try hanging up a call and directly contacting the business or organization to confirm if they were really making the call. Suspicious calls from unknown numbers should be avoided, and some robocallers can mask their location by using legitimate phone numbers of companies or agencies, so consumers should be on their guard.
Altman additionally advised consumers who have received an unsolicited, suspicious call from someone claiming to be from the Insurance Department to contact the actual department, as well as law enforcement.
