Every single day, residents of Florida and elsewhere find themselves victims of health insurance scams. Although this type of fraud is rampant, you can protect yourself from it by taking certain steps.

Have your guard up at all times and research

If you are contacted by phone, email or text by someone claiming to be an agent from a health insurance company looking to get you to sign up, be smart. Do your homework and research the company’s credentials to see whether it’s legitimate and reputable. If you’ve browsed an official marketplace website, company sites should end with “.gov.”

An insurance agent should also only contact you if you have searched the health insurance marketplace. If you receive unsolicited contact, there’s a good chance it’s fraud.

Always check for contact information from anyone who contacts you claiming to be an insurance agent. It should be easy to find online or through email. If a phone number is listed, it doesn’t hurt to call it to see if it’s valid.

Guard your insurance card at all times. Treat it the same way as you would a credit or debit card.

Protect your identity and information

Never give out any personal or financial information online or over the phone. A legitimate insurance agent will never try to solicit these types of information online or via email, anyway.

While you’re browsing online to find health insurance or sign up for a new plan, you should only rely on secure websites that begin with “https” URLs. Any legitimate site should provide you with copies of privacy policies that state where your personal information will be shared.

You should ensure an extra layer of security by requesting a unique PIN to be sent to your phone when dealing with sensitive information online. The security code is yours alone and cannot be accessed by anyone else.