COVID-19 tracers might call you. Here’s how to tell if the caller is really a scammer
The latest Consumer Alert from Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office warns folks about the Coronavirus Tracer Call Scam that the Miami Herald warned readers about in May.
And the recent case-number bounce in Florida, ever the fertile fraud ground anyway, makes the state even more inviting for this method of sucking personal information out of people.
Legitimate COVID-19 contact tracers do make phone calls to do exactly what the job title implies: trace the path of novel coronavirus infections by talking to folks with whom the newly infected have been in contact. That knowledge can help slow the spread both by warning a possibly infected person and tracking how the virus is getting around.
“If you are diagnosed with COVID-19, you will be asked by an epidemiologist from your county health department about everyone you’ve come in contact with over the last two weeks,” Moody said in a statement. “The epidemiologist will talk to each person and ask them about their health. But they will never ask for your Social Security number or financial information.”
And there’s one of the tells that the voice talking to you about the novel coronavirus is actually a financial fraud virus. Actual, authorized contact tracers won’t:
▪ Ask for your Social Security number, any financial information or any payment. A legitimate contact tracer isn’t selling you anything or collecting payment.
▪ Ask for your birth date. A true contact tracer has that already.
▪ Tell you the name of the infected person who gave your name to the epidemiologist. That would be illegal.
To report these scams, call 866-9NO-SCAM or go to the MyFloridaLegal.com website.
This story was originally published June 23, 2020 at 10:13 AM.
