GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – As COVID-19 vaccine approvals appear to be imminent, government officials expect to see scams emerge as the distribution begins.
Phishing messages, fake websites, and yes – even fake vaccines will soon pop up as the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are approved.
“They’re going to use the news reports of vaccine approval to their advantage to figure out some way to make money off of this,” said Susan Bach of the Better Business Bureau.
Bach reminds everyone to not pay to get on a list to receive the vaccine, and to not pay to get the vaccine early.
“Americans should not have to pay for that vaccine. It’s going to be available for free and it’s going to be only available through a health care provider. It’s not going to be available on a website or anything like that,” Bach told WTAQ News. “The first red flag is that the offer is coming from someone who is not your doctor or not a health care professional.”
Scammers will often create lookalike government websites, and have knocked off organizations like the CDC and World Health Organization. Bach says it’s important to check for a ‘.gov’ to verify the link is real.
“If you are seeing some information online or wherever, research that very carefully,” Bach said. “You want to make sure if you do read something that is too good to be true, that you verify the validity of that information with an official news source.”
For more information on potential vaccine scams, head to BBB.org.
Comments