LONDERS (Reuters) – Scammers have deceived people by offering them fake COVID vaccines in exchange for payment, while some victims have received unidentified samples, the Welsh Minister of Health said on Monday.
A mass vaccination program is operated throughout the UK by the state-run 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 were deceived into paying for a COVID vaccine and were then stabbed in the arm,” Wales Health Minister Vaughan Gething said during said an information session.
‘I want to be clear, our NHS will never ask anyone to pay for a COVID vaccine. It’s free. The NHS will never ask for your banking details and vaccines will not be delivered to your doorstep 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 and reported that scammers are asking elderly and vulnerable people for payment in exchange for access to fake or non-existent vaccinations.
“The current level of reported vaccine fraud remains very low, but is increasing,” said Graeme Biggar, director general of the National Economic Crime Center at the NCA.
Police in the City of London reported on Friday that a fraudster obtained 160 pounds from a 92-year-old woman and hit her in the arm with what she described as an “arrow-like tool” after he went unannounced with her house arrived. .
Britain is in the grip of a devastating surge in infections that pushed the total death toll from British COVID-19 to above 81,000 and led to the imposition of national locks in England and Scotland and strict restrictions in Wales and Northern Ireland.
Reporting by Estelle Shirbon; edited by William James