So you finally got a vaccine against Covid-19. Relieved, you take a picture of your vaccination card, with your name and date of birth and which vaccine you have already taken, and post it on social media.
But some experts warn that the information in the commemorative photo may make you vulnerable to identity theft or scams.
“Unfortunately, your card has your full name and date of birth, as well as information about where you got your vaccine,” said the Better Business Bureau last week. “If your social media privacy settings aren’t high, you could be providing valuable information for anyone to use.”
On Friday, the Federal Trade Commission did the following: “You are posting a photo of your vaccination card on social media. Please do not do that! ”Warned bluntly. “You could be inviting identity theft.”
Scammers can sometimes find most digits of your social security number by knowing your date and place of birth and can open new accounts in your name, apply for tax refunds for themselves and get involved in another identity theft, said Maneesha Mithal, associate director of the Privacy and Identity Protection Division of the Federal Trade Commission.
“Identity theft is like a puzzle, made up of pieces of personal information,” said Mithal. “You don’t want to give identity thieves the pieces they need to complete the picture. One of those pieces is your date of birth. “
But even if experts warn you to postpone sharing your card, if you wrote down your birthday anywhere else online – which most people probably already did – it’s likely that the information you’re giving away has already been made available by others means.
Avivah Litan, a senior analyst at research firm Gartner, said that many Americans are vulnerable due to multiple data breaches.
“Basically, criminals already have the surname, first name and birth date of almost everyone,” said Litan. “There have been so many hacks in the past 10 years. If all they are looking for is my name and birthday, they have it. “
How a scammer works
Scammers and identity thieves gradually collect information, cleaning up social media posts to organize a file about a person’s life, including education, employment and vacation locations. Posting a date of birth conveys one of your most important personal information.
While a name and date of birth are not all that an identity thief needs in most cases to steal your identity, putting these details in plain view makes it easier.
“Scammers look for any personally identifiable information they can get from you – any kind of information to build a profile,” said Curtis W. Dukes, executive vice president of the Center for Internet Security.
A scammer could exploit anxiety about a shortage of vaccines or a slow distribution process, masquerading as a government official who says he needs a credit card number to reserve another dose or backup, Dukes said.
In an atmosphere of scarcity so “highly charged”, people “can fall for it and give up their credit cards or maybe other information,” he said.
Litan said: “At the very least, it will give bad actors a boost to find out who has been vaccinated. So they can use it for fraud purposes to project me socially to pay them for a boost I will never have, or use it for valid business purposes that bypass normal US regulatory structures. ”
A new milestone to celebrate
Exuberant teenagers post pictures of their driver’s licenses or studies. Vacationers post photos of their travels.
Vaccination cards are now another way to “share these milestones in our lives,” said Nita A. Farahany, professor of law and philosophy at Duke University School of Law.
But she said one of the concerns is that the cards could be forged or replicated if the vaccination status starts to function as a commodity that gives people access to jobs, restaurants or events.
Someone who has not yet been vaccinated or does not want to be “tempted to fake a copy of these photos,” she said. “Or why wouldn’t a corporate scammer use the photos to create counterfeits to sell to anyone who wants them?”
The Better Business Bureau, in its warning, cited newspaper reports in Britain that said fake vaccination cards were purchased on eBay for about $ 6.
Asked about the reports, eBay said in an email statement that it blocked and removed items that make false health claims.
Building blocks for an identity
A vaccination card that has been made public can also be the springboard for elaborate social engineering or phishing ideas. These schemes were common during the pandemic.
Stacey Wood, a psychology professor at Scripps College who advised older adults who are victims of fraud, cited the so-called grandparents scam, in which a person posing as a law enforcement officer contacted an older adult and offered details about his grandson, pretending to know them and say they were in trouble and needed financial help.
“The typical consumer would not think that scammers must have selected information about my life and used it to target me,” she said. “In my practice, there is a lot out there now, and this is going to be a new thing.”
Cassie Christensen, a consultant at SecZetta, who works with organizations to manage identity risk, said people who posted their vaccination card could open up to a scammer posing as an officer demanding to verify their identity to inform them of medical concerns about , for example, supposed new side effects.
The scam may involve requests for more information to help them gain access to someone’s accounts, such as their mother’s maiden name or an address.
“They can also access LinkedIn and find out where you work,” she said. “They can call these organizations and do a legitimate password reset.”
The pandemic and its fears, she said, created the perfect environment for this.
“This is all highly emotional,” she said. “This is what hackers and phishers are looking for.”
To brag, use an adhesive
With the uneven distribution of the vaccine, the cards became a point of feedback. Some are using it on their dating profiles. Others are happy to post good news after a year of so much bad news.
“Some are posting to say, ‘Look, I got it,’ said Dr. Farahany, from Duke.
But what if there was another way of saying it? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believe so. As part of her campaign to increase confidence in vaccines, she has designed models for adhesives and many states, including Wisconsin, Georgia, Texas, Louisiana, New York and Maryland, are distributing versions of them.
Public health officials are betting on the widespread use of patches to have an impact on people who may be afraid, indifferent or simply against vaccines. Stickers can contribute to what is known as “social cascades” of behavior, similar to the way “I voted” stickers encourage voting, experts say.
“It helps to stimulate similar behavior among other people who may be watching this,” said Dr. Tara Kirk Sell, senior researcher at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Safety. “Actually, it’s about trying to tell others: ‘This is totally normal and is what people do’ ”.
The same behavior occurs when masks are widely used, making more people feel less out of place when wearing them. “We call this’ social proof,” said Wood. “As ‘I did my patriotic duty, I did my civic duty’.”
The stickers also do not reveal personal data, another reason why authorities are encouraging their use.
In Georgia this week, Attorney General Chris Carr urged people to display vaccination stickers, saying that he “cannot discourage them enough against publishing their vaccination cards on social media” because of the dangers of Identity theft.
In addition, “the stickers are very cool,” the FTC said on Friday.