Online scammers may use the information on COVID-19 vaccine cards to steal your identity, experts warn.
Thinking about bragging to your social media following about getting vaccinated against COVID-19 by sharing a selfie with your vaccination card? Think again.
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is warning that identifiable information visible on the COVID-19 vaccination card could leave people open to scams.
“Unfortunately, your card has your full name and birthday on it, as well as information about where you got your vaccine,” the organization said in a statement. “If your social media privacy settings aren’t set high, you may be giving valuable information away for anyone to use.”
While sharing your name and birthdate seems like an innocuous act, scammers can use that information to “constantly build a profile on you,” BBB’s Steve Bernas told AARP. Bernas explained that scammers could spend years collecting information before using it in nefarious ways.
Not only that, but some online fraudsters are using the photos to make fake vaccination cards, and many are being sold on eBay and TikTok, the BBB reported.
While the Center for Disease Control does encourage people who have received the vaccine to share the good news, to raise awareness for the vaccine, the BBB instead recommends spreading the information online in other ways, like a selfie with the vaccination sticker.
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