Scammers, posing as the NHS, are asking people for payment and personal details in exchange for the vaccine.
Some people are being contacted through emails, while others are receiving text messages. Both senders claim to be from the NHS.
Erin Meegan, a paediatric nurse from the Luton and Dunstable Hospital, says these scams have been a sad reality of the pandemic.
Scams of this kind are becoming alarmingly common in the UK.
Action Fraud, the national reporting centre for cyber-crime, said it had received more than 1000 complaints about this vaccine scam in one day.
A warning
Gavin Welch said he received an email, supposedly from the NHS, inviting him to get his Coronavirus vaccine. He was asked to fill out some details on a website.
Welch said that the message was very believable.
“It looked like an NHS page, with all the right colours and the bottom motif in the right place.”
However Welch became suspicious when he tried to use the search button and menu button and they didn’t work.
“It looked like an NHS page, with all the right colours and the bottom motif in the right place.”
Gavin Welch
Take care if you receive calls, emails or texts about the Covid-19 vaccine. Fraudsters are contacting people, claiming to be from the NHS in an attempt to gain personal or financial details.
Read more about these scams and how to report them: https://t.co/Iz6zQT1Qr2 #ScamAware pic.twitter.com/R6e4X6odsY
— Ofcom (@Ofcom) January 26, 2021
More people are getting their free Covid-19 jab every day, so as the numbers rise scammers will soon run out of people to target. But for now the advice is to stay aware.
