Fraudsters take a jab at vaccine rollout

Publisher
UK Cabinet Office
Date published
February 2021

Relevant impacts: Financial impact, human impact, reputational impact and government outcomes impact

During the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in the UK, fraudsters attempted to gain financial information from those seeking the vaccine.

Fraudsters copied the branding of the NHS vaccine roll out and contacted members of the public to tell them that they were due to have the vaccine. The fraudsters asked them to go through a personal identification process to establish their identity in order to receive the vaccine.

As part of this, the fraudsters asked for their bank details and claimed it was required to confirm their identity with a financial institution. They were in fact gathering banking details to facilitate fraud.

Related fraudster personas

The Impersonator

The Impersonator pretends they are another person or entity to dishonestly gain personal benefits.

Related countermeasures

Collaborate with strategic partners

Collaborate with strategic partners such as other government entities, committees, working groups and taskforces. This allows you to share capability, information and intelligence and to prevent and disrupt fraud.

Help and support

Help and support to customers, staff and third parties to help them follow correct processes and encourage them to comply with rules and processes and meet expectations.

Clear and specific eligibility requirements

Clear eligibility requirements and only approve requests or claims that meet the criteria. This can include internal requests for staff access to systems or information.

Coordinate disruption

Coordinate disruption activities across multiple programs or entities to strengthen processes and identify serious and organised criminals targeting multiple programs. It can also include referrals to law enforcement agencies for those groups that reach the threshold for complex criminal investigations.

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