Sadly, scammers are trying to take advantage of people’s worries and uncertainty about the pandemic, especially those who are alone, self-isolating or in financial difficulty.
Always take extra care to check the credentials of people or companies who contact you, whether by email, text, phone, in-person or on social media. Only criminals will try to rush or panic you so if possible seek advice and remember, it is always ok to say no.
Examples of COVID-related scams include:
- people claiming to be able to arrange a COVID vaccine for a fee. The NHS is the only organisation which has access to the vaccine, and will never ask for money
- emails from HMRC offering loans
- sales of fake products such as face masks, supplements, anti-virus kits, and sanitisers, which may be harmful or simply never arrive
- bogus healthcare workers who try to gain access to your home by claiming to offer to test for COVID-19
- people pretending to be from charities offering to do shopping or carry out cleansing tasks
- emails asking for donations to the NHS.
You can also find excellent advice and find out about the latest scams on the Take Five website.
Reporting
If you are a victim of fraud or cybercrime report it to Action Fraud online here or by calling 0300 123 2040. Find out more about reporting here.
Report a potential phishing attempt to the National Cyber Security Service using the Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS) at report@phishing.gov.uk. Click here to find out more about SERS and phishing scams.