COVID-19 Scams Call and Text on the Rise

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The pandemic is getting more serious, and scammers are calling home phones and sending text messages to mobile phones, which contain misinformation or could leave you out of pocket if you fall victim. In the UK, we have seen more and more reports regarding to the coronavirus scam according to Ofcom, and therefore would like to remind you again about this topic.


Phone Scams

  • Imposter Call with recorded message or caller
    Calls pretend to be from the government, your doctor, the NHS, Ofcom or WHO and informing you new information of the coronavirus. You will be either transferred to talk to a phone operator or pressing button on your phone.
    These action expose you at the risk of giving personal or financial information to the scammers or you could be connected to a high-cost premium number, leaving you liable for a significant call cost. Read more about this here .
  • Medical care or daily supplies scam
    Scammers are also targeting at the public’s fear of supplies of face masks or daily supplies such as toilet paper. They may also offer you vaccines or test related to the novel coronavirus. You can read more about this here. 

Text Scam

Look out for phising scam! According to Ofcom, scammers send links in text directing to bogus government website, it is obvious the link is not a government link in the picture below.
FYI: The government does send us information about the virus, however, it looks different from the text scam. Sample is in the right side of the picture below.

source from Ofcom

Home testing Scam

According to Action Fraud, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) is warning the public not to open their doors to bogus healthcare workers claiming to be offering ‘home-testing’ for the COVID-19 Coronavirus. Scammers are targeting at the vulnerable and the elderly.

Try the tellows app to report these annoying scammers!
Stay healthy,
Your tellows team

Source: Actionfraud, Ofcom

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