Don't Share Your COVID-19 Vaccine Card on Social Media

You just got your COVID-19 inoculation and you are excited to share the good news and encourage others to do the same. You take a selfie holding your vaccination card and post it to Facebook, Instagram or another social media platform.

Unfortunately, your card has your full name and birthday on it, as well as information about where you got your vaccine. If your social media privacy settings aren’t set high, you may be giving valuable information away for anyone to use.

Sharing your personal information isn’t the only issue. Scammers in Great Britain were caught selling fake vaccination cards on eBay and TikTok. It may only be a matter of time before similar cons come to the United States and Canada. Posting photos of your card provide scammers with information they can use to create and sell phony ones.

If you like to share news about your vaccination on social media, you should remember to do it safely:

• Share your vaccine sticker or use a profile frame – If you want to post about your vaccine, there are safer ways to do it. Consider sharing a photo of your vaccine sticker instead.

• Review your security settings – Check your security settings on all social media platforms to see what you are sharing and with whom. If you only want friends and family to see your posts, be sure that’s how your privacy settings are configured.

• Be wary of answering popular social media prompts – Sharing your vaccine photo is just the latest social trend. Think twice before participating in other viral personal posts, such as listing all the cars you’ve owned (including makes/model years), favorite songs, and top 10 TV shows. Some of these “favorite things” are commonly used passwords or security questions.

The Better Business Bureau has identified many ways in which scammers are cashing in the COVID-19 pandemic. At http://www.BBB.org/AvoidScams you can learn more about vaccine scams, clinical trial scams, contract tracing cons, counterfeit face masks and government agency imposters – and how to avoid them.

If you’ve spotted a scam, you are encouraged to report it to http://www.BBB.org/ScamTracker (whether or not you’ve lost money). Your report can help others avoid falling victim to scams.