A COVID-19 vaccine can’t protect against scammers.
The COVID-19 crisis has created new opportunities for scammers to take advantage of people who have gotten vaccinated.
The Better Business Bureau is warning consumers not to post photos of their coronavirus vaccination cards on social media. These cards display a person's full name, birth date and location of vaccination, which are all valuable information to an identity thief.
“You don’t want them to have your birthdate, you don’t want them to know how old you are because it will help in stealing your identity in some way because it builds a profile on you, and it all adds up,” said Steve Bernas, president and CEO of BBB of Chicago and Northern Illinois.
Bernas said there still are safe ways for consumers to share their individual vaccine stories. Using a profile picture frame provided by the social media platform is one the BBB suggests, or it could be even simpler.
“Some give stickers out, so what you want to do is see if they get a sticker from them or just cover up the pertinent information or put your finger over it or black it out,” Bernas said.
Bernas recommends checking security settings on social media as well.
“A lot of times people just assume it’s proper and they’re safe, and it’s at settings that are comfortable, but with Facebook and others you can go pretty strong,” he said.
Bernas recommends on Facebook, for instance, only allowing friends to see posts and no one else.
Along with stealing information from photos of vaccination cards on social media, Bernas said scammers are targeting elderly people seeking the coronavirus vaccine, extracting credit card information in exchange for hollow promises.
“They really want the vaccine, and the scammer knows that so they lie. They just create this scam that they have the vaccine or they can get you a better place in line when actually they don’t,” Bernas said.
Scammers are also targeting the masses of people stuck at home doing their shopping online with counterfeit websites, Bernas said.
“So you go to a website you think it’s a legitimate organization when actually it’s not,” Bernas said. “It’s a scam company trying to steal your money or credit card information in some way so you have to do your due diligence.”
Consumers with any concerns about the legitimacy of a business should contact BBB before they hand over any personal information that could be stolen by an identity thief, Bernas said.