Staying safe online

There’s a handful of things you can do to make sure your email is legitimate.

1. Consider the subject line and information included.
Spelling errors, American spelling of words and poor English are also hints that something might be a scam.

2. Who is it from?
Is the sender name spelled correctly? Are you expecting to hear from them and do they usually contact you this way? If you usually receive post and suddenly receive an SMS asking you to take action in a suspicious way, call the organisation to clarify if this is a legitimate communication.

3. What are they asking?
Are they sharing information with you, or asking you to do something? If you’re being asked to do something, are they leading you to their official website or app, or a suspicious link? If it’s to a suspicious link, do not click on it. If you’re being asked to do something by a certain date in your communication and you’re unsure, get in touch with us to confirm if it’s a legitimate Health Partners communication.

We’ll only ever get in touch with you over SMS to let you know important information about your cover, your dental or optical appointment, or prompt you to get in touch with us.

If you receive an SMS and are unsure of it’s legitimacy, consider:

1. Have we previously communicated with you over SMS?
2. Have we previously communicated with you about this topic over SMS?
3. Is there a link in the SMS that looks suspicious (such as a bit.ly link or a URL with random letters or incorrect spelling).

If any of the above seem suspicious, do not click on the link or reply to the SMS.

We use a number of platforms and email addresses to send our members communications.

We’ll never:

• Attempt to call you outside of business hours, unless it’s been arranged prior.
• Ask for your password or sensitive information (such as your bank details or private contact information) in unsolicited digital communication. There may be times when you need to provide 3-points of identification before discussing your cover with Health Partners staff – if you're uncomfortable doing this over email, you can request a phone call instead.

We’ll always contact you via the channel you’ve selected in your communication preferences. While there might some instances where we need to use our discretion to send important information to you in the most time-sensitive and appropriate way, this is rare.

If you’ve received communication from us that you’re unsure about, please call our local Member Care team on 1300 113 113 and we’ll be happy to look into it for you.

You can update your contact details or change your communication preferences anytime. There’s three ways you can do this.

1. Login to the Health Partners app and head to ‘Your Contact Details’ or ‘Communication Preferences’.
2. Login to the Health partners portal and head to ‘Your Contact Details’ or ‘Communication Preferences’.
3. Call our local Member Care team on 1300 113 113 to update your information.

While we’ll always follow your communication preferences, there might some instances where we need to use our discretion to send important information to you in the most time-sensitive and appropriate way.

• Head here for more advice on what to do if you suspect you've been scammed, use the Australian Cyber Security Centre's Have you been hacked? interactive tool.
• To report a scam, head to ScamWatch.
• Or call us on 1300 113 113 and we’ll be happy to look into this for you.

1. ATO ‘Scams, cyber safety and identity protection’
2. Learn more about keeping your information safe online.
3. ATO ‘Report a scam’

What to do if you get a phone call, text message or email that you’re not sure is genuine.