Covid Scam

I am sure that a lot of you will have had this scam email but for those who haven’t then beware. At 6.30 this morning my mobile pinged and the message read: You have been in close contact with someone who has recently tested positive for Omicron. Please order a test kit: https://your-pcr-order.com. At that time of the morning I am not at my best and not as alert as I should be. In our house we are ultra careful about infection with Covid as my wife’s health is not good so we avoid contact with others, but last Thursday I visited a local tyre garage and had a new set of tyres fitted but I was impressed at how Covid aware they were so thought it highly unlikely that contact was from there. Anyway I decided to follow the link, as instructed, to order a test I began filling in the questionnaire that was presented on screen, it had NHS logos on the pages which meant it seemed credible. I was ok till I got to the line which requested credit card number and last three digits, in order to pay £1.28 for postage, alarm bell then rang, this is a scam. Because it came early in the morning, when I was not at my best, it nearly succeeded but I remembered the warnings that I had seen that the NHS would never ask for credit card details as no payment would be requested. The Independent had highlighted this scam a while ago and advised that it had been taken down, apparently it has been resurrected so be aware. Dave W

I have had a few of these, another to add to the long scam list.

Tony

My daughter received the same scam email and acted in exactly the same way as you, it seems asking for credit card details is instantly recognised as a scam.

Emgee

I had the same last week but was immediately suspicious as Omicron and variant were both spelt wrong!

Geoff

Have you reported it to the relevant authorities? You phone provider may have its own, there is also the "gov.uk" one.

you will also shortly receive the email to get your NHS certificate of vaccination........

Just been pinged by this one myself.

The link is not to a .gov website, which it would be.

That's a dead giveaway - if it was from a credible source the suffix would be .gov

We've had a few of these - they go straight in the bit bucket.

Who Called Me?

(https://who-called.co.uk/)

I find this genuine website useful. People are reporting dubious & scam telephone numbers all the time.
(Only of course if the caller doesn't withhold their number).

Whether call or text msg, always worthwhile adding a scam caller's number to the enormous list !.