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Contact tracing call? 5 things to knowAfter nearly three months of stay-at-home orders, America is starting to open up again. Contact tracers, the folks who work for state health departments to try to track anyone who may have been exposed to COVID-19, are an important part of our road to recovery. But some scammers are pretending to be contact tracers so they can profit off of the current confusion. They’re trying to steal your identity, your money – or both. Luckily, there are ways to tell the difference between a real contact tracer and a scammer. 

A contact tracer might get in touch to discuss results of a test you know you took, or because someone you’ve been in contact with tested positive. Depending on how your state has set up its program, legitimate contact tracers may call, email, text, or visit your home to collect information. They may ask you for:

  • your name and address
  • health information
  • the names of places and people you have visited

Scammers will ask you to do more. Here are some things to do to protect yourself from fake contact tracers.

  • Don’t pay a contact tracer. Anyone who says you need to pay is a scammer, plain and simple.
  • Don’t give your Social Security number or financial information. There’s no reason for a legit contact tracer to need your Social Security number, bank account, or credit card number.
  • Don’t share your immigration status. Legit contact tracers don’t need — and won’t ask for — this information.
  • Don’t click on links or download anything sent from a contact tracer. Real tracers will only send you texts or emails that say they’ll be calling you — not ask you to click or download anything.

What should you do if you think you’re dealing with a fake contact tracer? Check with your state health department to see if they have a way to make sure the person contacting you is a real contact tracer. Otherwise, hang up, close the door, or don’t respond to, click on, or download anything that may be in an email or text. Then, report it to your state and tell the FTC about it at FTC.gov/complaint.

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The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.

  • We won’t post off-topic comments, repeated identical comments, or comments that include sales pitches or promotions.
  • We won’t post comments that include vulgar messages, personal attacks by name, or offensive terms that target specific people or groups.
  • We won’t post threats, defamatory statements, or suggestions or encouragement of illegal activity.
  • We won’t post comments that include personal information, like Social Security numbers, account numbers, home addresses, and email addresses. To file a detailed report about a scam, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

We don't edit comments to remove objectionable content, so please ensure that your comment contains none of the above. The comments posted on this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of other people, please do not include personal information. Opinions in comments that appear in this blog belong to the individuals who expressed them. They do not belong to or represent views of the Federal Trade Commission.

DonSupermanone…
June 25, 2020
Are there any jobs for a Disability person who is good with people and numbers!
mary
June 25, 2020
If the "contact" tracer is unable to tell us who it is that we supposedly were around that tested positive for COVID-19, we cannot verify them. The tracer already has our contact info, (that someone gave them about who we are and how to contact us), so our privacy has already been invaded. We should at least know who sent them so that we can verify they are real. Otherwise, the whole scam has been opened for criminal intent. WE, the public, knew this before the program was even started. NOONE wants a stranger showing up on their doorstep - we don't answer the door anymore because of that. And we don't answer calls from someone that is not family. This is an incredible waste of money and we are going to be stuck with this bill. For our own safety, we don't ever answer the door for strangers! And NOONE should be giving out our personal information.
My#1Kelsa
June 25, 2020
Would love to participate in finding/tracing this ugly virus.
roy
July 01, 2020
nice post
NANCY NACHTMAN
May 27, 2022

KEEP THE SCAMS OFF THE ELDERS... KNOW THE RULES...KEEP WARNING US...ALERTS..!!