A warning has been issued following a number of NHS text scams as covid rules change.
The law requiring people to stay at home if you test positive for coronavirus in England was lifted on February 24. On April 1, free coronavirus testing was also scrapped for the majority of the population in England.
It means most people will now have to buy tests from high-street shops unless they meet a certain criteria. Health Secretary Sajid Javid said it was right to “focus resources” on people who needed testing most including some patients in hospital and those at high risk of severe coronavirus.
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However, consumer rights website Which? has issued a warning to say fraudsters have taken the opportunity to make money out of people on these testing changes. The scammers are sending texts pretending to be from the NHS asking people to order a test and pay a delivery fee.
Which? found the texts all followed a similar format including asking people to order a test, including a dodgy link to a fake NHS website and asking to pay a delivery fee of between £1 and £2.
The consumer rights website found fraudsters use details to try and steal from peoples banks. It added not to be fooled by the small amounts the scammers first ask for as they do this to "go unnoticed".
The NHS told Which? they do sometimes include links in vaccine text messages, however these are only to the NHS website for booking and information. The NHS will not ask people to buy a test or handover any financial details and text messages from the health service should come from a sender name not a mobile number.
