You’ve heard of contact tracing, the process of identifying who’s been exposed to those who’ve tested positive for a disease. It’s a powerful tool in the fight against COVID-19.
Scammers take advantage of this practice by posing as contact tracers, sending scam text messages asking their would-be victims for personal information to use in committing identity theft, such as social security numbers.
A legitimate contact tracer will never ask you for money or any sort of personal financial information; anyone who does is a scammer and you should report them. For more information, including how to block scammers, see the Federal Trade Commission’s article COVID-19 contact tracing text message scams.
Please also beware of COVID test scams as they too are on the rise. The linked article tells how to recognize and avoid them.