Many of us are desperate to return to ‘normal’ life as we knew it before a life-altering pandemic intruded into every aspect of our lives. We know that a largescale inoculation campaign is about the only thing that will help us do this. As such we have all cheered every bit of news about the development of effective vaccines – in India and abroad. Of course, there are those who decided to take advantage of our anxieties and our hopes with COVID vaccine scams.
People are receiving emails and text messages about ‘special offers’ or ‘early access’. Of course, the trick is that one has to pay for said early access – scamsters are known to ask for $150 to ‘help’ people jump the vaccine queue. Other such ‘offers’ seem to be more innocuous; asking people for personal details.
Currently, the scams are seen in the USA and Europe, where inoculations have already begun. People receive messages purporting to be from the authorities, asking them to follow certain steps to apply for the vaccine. The UK, people have received messages leading to a fake but authentic-looking website where people are asked to fill in their bank details to ‘register’ for the vaccine. Scamsters have asked people to pay a certain amount so that they can be placed on ‘lists’ of people to be vaccinated. Some have received phone calls asking them to pay over the phone.
In the UK, the police have warned that all such ‘offers’ are actually scams. The vaccines are being provided free of costs so anyone asking for money or financial details must be necessarily be viewed as illegitimate or as a scam. These scams also operate via apps such as Telegram and dark web forums. These promise to put people on ‘priority lists’ or offer access to vaccines via the black market.
In India, the vaccine rollout will be in a phased manner. It will first inoculate frontline workers and high-risk individuals. However, people anxious for their own health or their loved ones, or those who want to jump the queue for other reasons are anxious to do whatever possible to get the vaccine may fall prey to scams in India as well.
The authorities have warned that there are no legitimate or official entities offering ‘early access’ or ways to be put on any ‘list’ for inoculations. It is clarified that government agencies don’t ask for or accept payments or ask for personal/ financial details for the inoculation process. Buying vaccines from the black market could be extremely dangerous since there is no way to ensure the authenticity or the source of anything that claims to be a COVID vaccine. In general, it is best to be wary of any entity that asks for payment or financial and personal details to be safe from any COVID 19 vaccine scam.
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