JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A new text asking for information about your COVID-19 vaccine may seem legit, but Missouri leaders say it’s an elaborate scam to steal the identities of Americans.
The state said scammers from Europe are sending texts to people in Missouri, like the one below.
The text tells the person who received it to validate a one-time COVID-19 Vaccine verification. To do that, the text says you need to go to a website, enter your name, birthdate, and social security number. Then it asks you to upload pictures of your driver’s license.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services says it’s all a hoax. The creators of the site even went as far as creating a fake website that is illegally using logos from Missouri’s Department of Revenue and Department of Health and Senior Services. The page resembles this one.
The state reported the site, but it may still be operating. It’s also been told that the texts are coming from 1-704-525-9772, but that could always change.
If you submitted information through this website, the Department of Health and Senior Services recommends doing the following:
- Contact your financial institutions to notify them of the privacy breach
- Contact the Social Security Administration to report an exposed SSN
- Contact credit reporting services to alert them your information was disclosed
To protect your information, Missouri said it will never ask for your social security number in an email or text message. You can also identify scams like this one by knowing the state only provides vaccination verification and records upon request, it doesn’t ask residents for them.