EsSalud warns about scams in subsidy collections and funeral expenses: how to identify them?

If you are an EsSalud insured and you received a phone call or an email announcing that you were a recipient of a financial benefit for funeral, bereavement or life insurance after the death of your family member, you should be alert. It turns out that cases of scams by unscrupulous people to take advantage of the pain of health system users have been increasing.

They pose as Social Health Security officials or workers to appropriate the private information of their victims and use it for criminal purposes. To find out how these criminals operate and what communication channels to use to carry out procedures, La República spoke with Alberto Barrenechea Pastor, central manager of Insurance and Economic Benefits of EsSalud.

EsSalud warns about a new type of scam: how to identify it?

Cases of scams regarding alleged financial subsidies that EsSalud would grant in favor of its policyholders have increased in recent days. Through calls or the issuance of emails, relatives of deceased members are surprised by criminals who take the name of officials or workers of said entity.

“Our institution has begun to receive a series of complaints from relatives of insured people who have died. They have been calling them pretending to be from the institution to make a proposal to pay an alleged benefit from the institution that we usually give. as payment for funeral or insurance plus life,” explained the central manager of Insurance and Economic Benefits of EsSalud, Alberto Barrenechea.

After making this communication, These criminal organizations require their victims to pay an amount different from that handled by EsSalud and, in many cases, they force the relatives of the deceased person to enter a link, enter their information and send the money to the account that is recorded. . “They put an exorbitant amount between S/55,000 and S/60,000, and they ask the person they contact for a totally false payment of administrative expenses that represents 10% of the total,” said the EsSalud official.

As is public knowledge, Social Health Security does not charge for procedures related to subsidies such as funeral, breastfeeding, maternity and temporary disability, as well as other services. In that sense, Barrenechea called on the population to verify any communication they receive and avoid making deposits to accounts indicated by these scammers.

“All the refunds that we grant are completely free. At no time is an intermediary or processor required to facilitate this work. I ask that if you have any questions or queries, citizens can call our online health office or contact us. can write through our digital platform that we have enabled on the web”he sentenced.

They try to defraud the insured with a false subsidy

One of the testimonies that La República collected about this new type of scam, which involves collecting economic benefits in EsSalud, is that of computer engineer Roberto Guerrero. His mother died in November of last year, but last Friday, March 22, he received three calls, in which they informed him of the approval of a supposed Life Insurance Law procedure corresponding to the concept of burial and subsidy for the contributions made by the headline.

According to the information provided to him by these unscrupulous people who pose as EsSalud workers, he had to voluntarily accept payment for administrative expenses of 5% of the total amount to be collected, equivalent to more than S/59,000. In other words, he had to deposit close to S / 2,982 in a bank under the excuse of covering these bureaucratic processes.

To continue with this criminal act, they sent him an email from a fake Social Health Security domain that sought to confuse the insured. In this communication, they explained the requirements to operationalize the respective procedure and indicated that he must send the payment voucher to the sender of this message. Fortunately, Roberto did not make the payment and the scam attempt could not be carried out.

How to avoid this type of scam that EsSalud alerts?

The central manager of Insurance and Economic Benefits of EsSalud, Alberto Barrenechea, specified to this medium that, if faced with any query or search for information regarding procedures related to subsidies or other services, policyholders can go to the following institutional communication channels:

• Viva EsSalud: Go to their website or click on THIS LINK to carry out procedures, queries about affiliation processes or financial benefits 24 hours a day.
• Call the telephone exchange at 411-8000. Then, mark option 3 or go in person to the Insurance and Economic Benefits Offices.

Likewise, Barrenechea stated that victims of this type of scam can go to the nearest police station in the district where they live and file the respective report. “The family member of the insured can go to a police station and make a report to the Police to initiate the corresponding investigation and catch these criminals”he said.

EsSalud 2024: what financial subsidies does Social Security offer?

EsSalud not only guarantees medical care for its insured, but also has a series of financial subsidies intended for situations such as temporary disability, funeral, maternity or breastfeeding. Below, learn about all the benefits that Social Security provides for the affiliated population.

1. Temporary disability allowance: This benefit provides help to regularly active, agricultural and special regime insured persons to compensate for the loss of income due to the inability to work caused by health problems.
2. Maternity allowance: Insured mothers receive financial support during the rest period they will have for their maternity leave, after childbirth and the first care of the newborn.
3. Breastfeeding allowance: EsSalud grants this economic benefit of S/820 to the mother of the newborn baby of an insured person. In situations of multiple births, this amount is paid for each baby born alive.
4. Funeral benefit: Social Health Security provides an amount of money to those who have covered the expenses of funeral services after the death of a regular and regular insured person. This amount reaches a maximum of S/2,070 and is granted to the direct beneficiary of the deceased (spouse or common-law partner, adult child, father or mother, or adult brother or sister).