The text that says your health card has expired

What the scam looks like

A text arrives saying your health card is out of date. The wording changes from one message to the next - some say cards issued before a certain year are "legacy documents", some announce a mandatory replacement, some invoke a grand-sounding electronic health identification system that does not exist. They all end the same way: a link, and a short window to use it.

Provinces do renew health cards, and some are mailing new ones out right now. But a renewal notice arrives by mail, renewing at expiry costs nothing, and what no province does is send you a link by text to renew a card or to pay for one. That is settled in an envelope or in your own online account, never from a message that arrived on its own.

What the page behind the link collects is the set of things that make identity theft possible - your health number, your date of birth, your address, and often a card number, for a "fee" no province would ever take through a texted link.

Red flags

• Getting a text about your health card at all. Provinces write to you by mail.
• A fee to be paid from a message. Renewing at expiry costs nothing, and no province collects payment through a link you were sent.
• Official-sounding programs you have never heard of, especially ones with "system" or "registry" in the name.
• A deadline of a few days, on pain of losing your coverage.

What to do

• Don't tap the link. If you want to check, look up your province's health plan yourself and go there directly.
• Never enter your health number, your date of birth or a card number into a page you opened from a text.
• Already filled one in? Contact your province's health insurance plan, watch your bank statements and report it to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (1-888-495-8501).
• Not sure about the text you got? Paste it into our scam-text checker below.