Dear tellows friends,

we know what you might think: “Corona Virus scams again?!” But trust me, even tough we already informed you about a lot of scams regarding to Covid-19, we have to inform you about this one! It is a really sneaky trick and there is a high probability that you might fall for the scam if you don’t know how to recognize it.

First of all, it is true that the national health service (NHS) is going to contact you if:

a) You have been tested positive for Covid-19

or

b) You have been in contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19.

Unfortunately it is also true that fraudsters will pretend to be a part of the NHS and will contact you. It becomes even more complicated when the fraudsters imitate the official test and trace number (which is 0300 0135 000). This kind of fraud is named spoofing and makes it really hard for the victims to tell apart between a serious call and a scam.

How to tell if it is real or fake

Even tough it is a tricky scam, there are some things that indicate if the call is made by a real contact tracer or a scammer:

• You will never be asked to make any form of payment or give information about your bank account
• You will never be asked for any passwords, PINs or login details
• You will never be asked to download any software to your device
• You will never be asked to buy something (e.g. masks)
• It is a fraud, if the caller tells you that you are infected with the corona virus but you did not take a test before
• The only website that you will be asked to visit is the official website of the NHS.

What to do if it is a scam

• If you think it might be a scam, end the phone call and try to call the real contacting call- number 0300 0135 000. Inform them about the call and ask them if they have something to do with it
• If they have nothing to do with it call the police and tell them everything you know about the call
• Tell your friends and family about the scam, so they know about it and are going to be more cautious
• Rate the number on tellows, therefore you can save other people from being the next victim

if you came in contact with such a scam, we would be happy if you want to tell us how you dealt with it.

Your tellows team