Scammers Prompt Doctor to Leave Hospital During Surgery
When a patient is on the operating table, it’s no time to be taking phone calls. But when an anesthesiologist began receiving persistent calls from an unknown number, curiosity got the best of him.
We had to get the FBI involved.
The threat
- Scammers claim a medical professional’s license had been revoked.
- An alleged FBI investigation required providing personal and bank information.
- Information provided was used for identity theft.
The outcome
- Ironwall institutes emergency support services.
- We removed or redacted online PII collected by scammers.
- Ongoing monitoring prevented additional financial/reputational damage.
The threat
- Scammers claim a medical professional’s license had been revoked.
- An alleged FBI investigation required providing personal and bank information.
- Information provided was used for identity theft.
The outcome
- Ironwall institutes emergency support services.
- We removed or redacted online PII collected by scammers.
- Ongoing monitoring prevented additional financial/reputational damage.
A convincing con
The caller identified himself as an investigator with that state’s Department of Professional Regulation. He told the anesthesiologist that his license had been suspended due to a pending investigation. A car had been pulled over in Texas, and narcotics were found inside that were allegedly prescribed by the anesthesiologist.
A classic case of identity theft
Shocked, the man then found himself also speaking to someone professing to be from the FBI. He was informed that not only could he no longer participate in medical procedures, but he was also prohibited from being in the hospital. Professing his innocence but believing what he was told, the anesthesiologist left the hospital while the surgery continued.
When he returned home he followed up with the “Department of Professional Regulation,” and was informed that since he appeared to be a victim of a classic case of identity theft, they would need his cooperation to clear his name. That required providing his online usernames and passwords, as well as his bank account number. He complied with the request.
Suspicion—a little too late
He finished compiling a document with additional personally identifiable information (PII), and was about to send it to the email address provided, when he experienced a moment of doubt and called a friend—who was a retired police officer—to discuss the situation. The officer told him it was almost certainly a scam and to stop cooperating immediately. The officer then connected the anesthesiologist to the Ironwall security team.
Ironwall: Undoing the damage
After reviewing the situation and what information had already been provided to the scammers, we put the man on our emergency response protocol. Searches were initially conducted every two hours, as we tracked what the scammers were doing and began redacting and removing any content that was obtained. Removing content from the dark web is not possible, but we could locate any PII shared there and make it less valuable by having the anesthesiologist change all his usernames and passwords.
Attempts to open new accounts were still appearing six months after the man was first contacted, but Ironwall tracked every attempt and made sure it was not successful. No other company searches more places more often—just one reason why Ironwall’s privacy and security solutions have achieved a nearly 95% renewal rate among clients.
Please Note: All case studies are described in ways that preserve our clients’ safety and anonymity.
Don’t wait to be targeted
Scammers are constantly searching for their next victims. Protect yourself and your organization with Ironwall.