Scammers continue to exploit the confusion and urgency of the coronavirus pandemic to commit fraud on unsuspecting victims – this time by way of a fake text claiming the recipient can get a dose of one of the newly-approved vaccines.
The bogus message, seen below, states that the recipient is entitled to a vaccine and to receive more information they should click on the link in blue.
Unfortunately these texts are completely fake and if the link is clicked the recipient is taken to a webpage, branded to look like a genuine NHS page, which requests to see ‘proof of ownership of address’ in the form of their bank account, sort code and a full bank card number.
Please do not give any bank or card details to make payment for a vaccine or to prove your residential address. Coronavirus vaccines are administered free of charge. Your surgery or the NHS will not ask for any money or bank details.
(N.B. Both the text message and the fake webpage it links to have spelling and grammatical errors which help to identify its illegitimacy but the scammers may get wise to that soon so don’t be fooled by a message that doesn’t appear to have such mistakes).
Beware also telephone calls claiming to be from NHS instructing you to press a key to confirm you’d like to receive the vaccine or asking for bank details as affirmation to receive the vaccine. Both are likely to result in financial fraud – either as a charge on your bill or unauthorised use of your bank account.
For genuine COVID-19 related advice including vaccination information, visitwww.gov.uk and www.nhs.uk
Forward suspicious texts to 7726.