Austin, Texas – Austin Public Health (APH) has been made aware of individuals or groups that are attempting to scam Austin-Travis County residents using the guise of being APH employees.
 
These individuals or groups are operating through a “spoofed” phone number using the APH Environmental Health Services main line (512-978-0300) to attempt to scam individuals. At this time, our City teams are still working to stop the individual or group from using APH’s phone number.
 
As a reminder, APH employees will never ask for Social Security, Medicaid, insurance, immigration, or financial information. There are instances when a member of the Austin Public Health Department will reach out via phone or email, but staff will properly identify themselves and provide contact information for additional questions. Staff will usually verify or confirminformation that they already obtained from hospitals or labs instead of initially asking you to tell them that information.
 
If you believe the call you are receiving is a scam call, request the name, title, and call back number from the Austin Public Health employee. You can verify the information with City of Austin by contacting 311 to ask for that person. This will ensure that they are speaking directly with an APH staff member.  
 
While we continue to look into the situation, we are sending this notification today as a way of increasing awareness and protecting Austin-Travis County residents.