Vaccine Scams

Once again, criminals are using Covid-19 to try and scam consumers out of money and personal details. Currently there are many scams circulating regarding to this, pretending to be from different organisations such as the NHS, the World Health Organisation or even your local pharmacy.

These scams may come in the form of text messages, phone calls, websites or even in person. When using text messages, people may be asked to press a number on their keypad or to reply to confirm they wish to receive a vaccine – this may result in a charge being put on the person’s phone bill and a loss of personal information.

Over the phone, criminals may impersonate health officials so they can offer a vaccine in exchange for a fee or requesting bank details to “verify” your details. Emails are making the rounds which often have an attachment or link to book your vaccine. These attachments may contain malware which infects your device and steals information. The links may go to a fake convincing looking vaccine booking forms and may contain some of your personal details to give you confidence in the website – however at the end of the form they will request bank details or further information about you.

With so many different scams relating to Covid-19, it is important to remember the following about the NHS:

• They will never ask for payment – the vaccine is free

• They will never ask for your bank details

• They will never arrive at your home to administer the vaccine unannounced

• They will never ask you to prove your identity by sending copies of personal documents such as NHS letters, passports or other identification documents.