LONDON (Reuters) – Scammers have deceived people into falsely offering them COVID vaccines in exchange for payment, with some victims receiving unidentified blows, the Welsh health minister said on Monday, echoing warnings from police in other parts of Britain.
A mass vaccination program is being run in the UK by the state’s National Health Service (NHS), which provides all care, including vaccines, free of charge.
“There are a number of scams involving COVID, including a particularly nasty one in which people have been tricked into paying for a COVID vaccine and then hit in the arm,” Wales Health Minister Vaughan Gething said in a statement. briefing.
“I want to be clear, our NHS will never ask anyone to pay for a COVID vaccine. They are free. The NHS will never ask you for bank details, and vaccines will not be delivered to the front door by people who have not been identified as NHS staff. “
The minister’s warning came after the National Crime Agency (NCA) last week urged the public to be vigilant, reporting that scammers demanded payment from the elderly and vulnerable in exchange for access to vaccines that were fake or non-existent.
“The current level of reported vaccine fraud remains very low, but it is rising,” said Graeme Biggar, director general of the NCA’s National Center for Economic Crime.
City of London police reported on Friday that a scammer had obtained £ 160 from a 92-year-old woman and hit her with his arm with what she described as “an arrow-like tool”, after what appeared unannounced to her.
The UK is facing a devastating rise in infections, which has pushed the total death toll in the UK COVID-19 to over 81,000 and led to the imposition of national blockades in England and Scotland and strict restrictions in Wales and Northern Ireland.
Reporting by Estelle Shirbon; edited by William James