North Yorkshire County Council are urging residents to be vigilant after a spate of fake invitations to Covid-19 vaccinations designed to steal money and personal information.

Scammers are using uncertainty around the vaccine to try and charge people to have a vaccination, with emails also asking recipients to ‘register’ their details.

Both the NHS and North Yorkshire County Council have asked people to be vigilant and to remain suspicious when receiving such emails.

Jo Boutflower from Trading Standards at NYCC said:

“People should remain suspicious with these unsolicited emails, as they should be with any others, and think about what group you are in.

“If you’re not in one of the priority groups and are not expecting to be vaccinated at this point, then pause for thought and take a minute to check out the email.”

Jo has advised people to check the sender of the emails, as although the current fake version appears to be from the NHS, it has in fact been sent from Japan.

Doing this depends on which device you’re viewing the email, but PC users should hover their cursor over the sender, whereas those looking on mobile devices can click on the sender to see the email address behind it.

If you have received one of these emails and have provided information, contact Action Fraud to report it on 0300 123 2040.

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