Scam Warning: Don’t Share Photos of COVID-19 Vaccine Card
Amy Barczy
| 2 min read
Amy Barczy is a former brand journalist who authored content at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Prior to her time at Blue Cross from 2019-2024, she was a statewide news reporter for MLive.com. She has a decade of storytelling experience in local news media markets including Lansing, Grand Rapids, Holland, Ann Arbor and Port Huron.
Officials with the Better Business Bureau are warning consumers not to share photos of their COVID-19 vaccination card on social media sites. When you receive a COVID-19 vaccine, you should be provided with a card to help you track the date of your first vaccine, the type of vaccine you received and where you received it. This is especially important right now, as the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines both require two doses to be fully effective. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires one dose. However, the information on the cards also includes your full name and birthday. Should you post a photo of your card on a social media site, if your privacy settings are not strong enough you may be sharing your personal information with a much wider audience than you intended, the Better Business Bureau warns. Not only can scammers glean information about you, they may also use information from your vaccination card to produce fake versions. In Great Britain, officials caught scammers selling fake cards online. Instead of posting a selfie with your vaccination card, the Better Business Bureau recommends sharing a photo of a sticker or using a custom graphic frame around your profile picture on social media. It may also be a good time to review the privacy settings on your social media accounts to limit who can see what you post. Most social sites have the option to keep your posts visible only to your friends and followers, instead of open to the entire internet. More from MIBluesPerspectives.com:
- Phishing Attempts Rising During COVID-19 Pandemic
- Beware of Fake Contact Tracing Calls
- COVID-19 Vaccines: What You Should Know
Photo credit: Bill Oxford
