Santa Casa de Lavras warns of scam asking for Pix payments in the hospital's name to families of inpatients
Administrator André Borim says the hospital does not charge for tests or medication by phone or WhatsApp; questions can be answered at (35) 3829-2800
Automatically translated from Portuguese. Read the original in Portuguese
Scammers are using the name and logo of Santa Casa de Lavras to ask families of inpatients for Pix payments. The warning was issued by the hospital's administrator, André Borim, to reporter Frederico Mesquita, on Revista da Cidade this Tuesday (10), on Rádio Cultura.
According to Borim, the criminals call or send messages saying that the health plan or SUS (Brazil's Unified Health System) does not cover a certain test or medication, and ask for payment by Pix or bank deposit. "We never ask for money for anything", he said. When the hospital needs to discuss something with a patient's family, the conversation is held in person.
The administrator said the Santa Casa received an audio recording on Monday of a scammer talking to a family. In the recording, the man stutters and uses terms unrelated to medicine, but answers any question quickly.
Anyone who receives this kind of demand should hang up and call Santa Casa at (35) 3829-2800. The case can also be reported to the police.
Watch the Revista da Cidade excerpt in this story's video.
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