From Pharmacists Mutual email, published July 18: Beware of calls from people who claim to be from a legitimate medical supply vendor who say they are “performing maintenance” on their system. Please make all your employees aware of this scam, which seems to be increasing in frequency.
The fraudulent scheme begins when the pharmacy receives a call from someone pretending to be from a legitimate medical supply vendor known to the pharmacy, such as McKesson or Cardinal. The caller states that they are performing maintenance on the system and need the employee's user name and password for testing purposes. The employee then gives the sign-on credentials to the caller.
After the call, an order is placed through the pharmacy account. The con artist(s) calls back pretending to be someone from the wholesaler stating that they accidentally placed an order while testing. They state they will refund the pharmacy's account and send a courier to pick up the order. The courier seems to be unaware/uninvolved in the scam. The courier retrieves the package from the pharmacy and delivers it to a PO box.
If the scheme is successful the first time, the con artist has been known to attempt a second order using a similar method of operation. The value of goods being lost often exceeds $100,000. Unfortunately, coverage is excluded under insurance policies due to voluntary parting of property.
To protect yourself and your pharmacy, let your employees know that under no circumstances should they ever divulge a username or password to anyone (in either their business or personal lives). The request for your password is a clear sign of fraudulent activity. Large or unusual transactions should always be reviewed by a second person to ensure the validity of the request.
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