NEW YORK – Scammers are taking advantage of the vaccination mandate from New York and other employers to mislead New Yorkers into attempting to steal their personal information, the New York State Division of Consumer Protection and Health Department warned Tuesday. This by taking advantage of the policy that requires some employers to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19.
And it is that scammers are using an identity theft system through text messages that reach people who try to validate their vaccination status. These fraudulent text messages, which appear to come from the New York State Department of Health, reach the recipients and ask them to install a software that what it does is obtain the data or confidential personal information to steal the identity of the victim.
Here, they ask the victim to enter their information in order to validate their vaccination status. The site to which the message links is also fraudulent. Anyone who receives such a text message should delete it immediately.
Here are examples of fake text messages:
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NYS Department of State
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During the attempted robbery, they may try to obtain your passwords, account numbers, or social security numbers. If they get that information, they could get access to your email, bank, or other accounts. Scammers launch thousands of such attacks every day. Entering any information could put anyone at risk of identity theft.
To help protect against message spoofing scams, the New York State Office of Information Technology Services (ITS) and the Division of Consumer Protection recommend the following precautions:
• Be careful with all communications you receive, including those that appear to be from a trusted entity. Inspect the sender information to confirm that the message was generated from a legitimate source.
• Watch for telltale signs of phishing: poor spelling or grammar, use of threats, URL does not match legitimate site. If the message doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t.
• Do not click embedded links in an unsolicited message from an unverified source.
• Do not send your personal information by text message. Legitimate companies will not ask users to send sensitive personal information through text messages.
• Do not post confidential information online. The less information you publish, the less data you will make available to a cybercriminal for use in the development of possible attacks or scams.
For more information on phishing scams, as well as steps to mitigate a phishing attempt, visit the New State Office of Information Technology Services Phishing Awareness Resources page. York in https://its.ny.gov/resources o the Impersonation Scam Prevention Division of the Consumer Protection Division at https://dos.ny.gov/identity-theft-prevention-and-mitigation-program.
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