Dr Mukesh Haikerwal is warning GPs to watch out for scams that could put their practice data at risk, saying he was tricked by “sophisticated” operators posing as the Federal Government agency which runs Medicare.

The former AMA president who was once head of clinical leadership at the Australian National E-Health Transition Authority, was drawn into the scammers’ clutches after tagging Services Australia when posting a Tweet about his troubles with myGov.

He then saw that the ‘government agency’ was following his Twitter account and because he thought it wanted to help him out, he decided to follow the ‘agency’ back.

At the time he did not realise the Twitter handle (@_ServicesGOVAU) was subtly different from the genuine account (@ServicesGOVAU), with the inclusion of an underscore on the fake account.