BBB Reminder: Don’t share your COVID-19 vaccine card on social media

Milwaukee, Wis. – Now that Covid-19 vaccination recommendations for pediatric and teen populations have been extended, and as those restrictions continue to be lifted and change and it rolls out to more individuals around the country, BBB reminds people not to share a photo of your vaccination card on social media.

Remember, even a minimal amount of self-identifying information makes you vulnerable to identity theft and can help scammers create phony versions of the cards. There have even been reports of scammers offering fake vaccine cards for sale.

“You may be excited to share the news that you got the vaccine or the booster shot,” says Jim Temmer, BBB Serving Wisconsin CEO/president, “but do not post a picture of it, nor a selfie holding the card on Facebook, Instagram or another social media platform.”

The personal vaccine card has self-identifying information on it including your full name, birth date and information about where you got the vaccine. If your social media settings aren’t set high, you may be giving valuable information away making you vulnerable to scams. And that information is exposed for others to use to create and sell phony cards.

BBB recommends that you share safely on social media and offers these tips:

• Share your vaccine sticker or use a profile frame instead. If you want to post about your vaccine, there are safer ways to do it. You can share a photo of your vaccine sticker or set a frame around your profile picture.
• 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.

Report scams to BBB Scam Tracker.

For an online version of the story click here.

For more information or further inquiries, contact the Wisconsin BBB at www.bbb.org/wisconsin, 414-847-6000 or 1-800-273-1002. Consumers also can find more information about how to protect themselves from scams by following the Wisconsin BBB on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

ABOUT BBB: For more than 100 years, the Better Business Bureau has been helping people find businesses, brands and charities they can trust. In 2020, people turned to BBB more than 220 million times for BBB Business Profiles on 6.2 million businesses and Charity Reports on 11,000 charities, all available for free at BBB.org. There are local, independent BBBs across the United States, Canada and Mexico, including BBB Serving Wisconsin which was founded in 1939 and serves the state of Wisconsin.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.