CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – The Charleston Fire Department announced on Tuesday that its system had been compromised by an email scam and that the scheme may have affected personal health information.
On February 21, 2025, department officials said they became aware of spam emails originating from an EMS employee’s email account.
The employee’s email account was accessed beginning on February 18, 2025, officials said.
“Although we have no evidence that an unauthorized user removed any personal information from the account, we have conducted an extensive review to identify any personal information that might have been in, or accessible in, the account,” the Charleston Fire Department wrote.
Officials believe the scheme was limited to a spam email campaign and that the impacted email account contained limited information pertaining to ambulance trips and related EMS billing.
The following types of protected health information may have been involved: name, address, date of birth, Social Security number, other demographic identifiers, clinical information such as diagnosis/conditions, medications, dates of services, and/or insurance information that would have been relevant to your ambulance trip.
The data impacted was not the same for everyone and that for most individuals impacted the information was limited to billing records such as name, date of service, insurance carriers, and the amount billed for EMS treatment, officials reported.
The fire department has arranged to provide complimentary credit monitoring for any individuals with data potentially implicated by this incident.
Resources for impacted individuals, may be found on CFD’s website >>> CLICK HERE
If you have any questions or about the identity monitoring services provided, please call 833-745-1349 (toll-free), Monday through Friday, from 9:00 am – 9:00 pm
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