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COVID-19 vaccine schedulers being mistaken as scam callers

When she started receiving calls from other Duval County residents asking about the same kind of calls, she started digging deeper. She called the health department, the Regency vaccine site and the State Department of Health and found out that the state does have schedulers who are calling people who register through the state’s vaccine scheduling line. “When they register, they do not talk to a live person,” explained Dr. Pauline Rolle, medical director of the Duval County Health Department. But she urged people to please answer so they do not miss their chance to book a vaccine appointment. AdShe wants everyone to understand that a legitimate health department scheduler will not ask for any financial or personal information.

Got vaccinated? Here’s why you may want to keep that to yourself

A Poudre Valley Hospital ICU Nurse shows off her vaccination card after getting the first round of Covid-19 vaccines at UC Health Poudre Valley Hospital on December 14, 2020 in Fort Collins, Colorado. For starters, sharing a photo of your vaccination card on social media makes you a potential target of identity theft, according to the Better Business Bureau. If you want to post about your vaccine, there are safer ways to do it, the Better Business Bureau advised. And, they can go a long way toward building confidence and encouraging others to get vaccinated. With supply so constrained, "there's some inherent conflict there," said Steven Thrasher, a professor and Daniel H. Renberg chair of social justice at Northwestern University.

cnbc.com

It’ll cost you more than $10K for the cheapest ticket to Super Bowl LV in Tampa

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – If you are hoping to go to the big game this year, there will be a limited number of tickets because of the pandemic. Roughly 22,000 fans will be allowed inside Raymond James Stadium on game day and that includes 7,500 frontline healthcare workers who were invited to attend. For one ticket in the upper corner of the stadium, you’d have to pay more than $10,500, according to prices shown on Ticketmaster on Monday morning. With prices that high, people are looking for a good deal and where there is money on the line, scammers are nearby. The Better Business Bureau says it received more than 200 reports of ticket scams last year.

Get an EIP card in the mail? Here’s how to check if it’s legitimate

The Better Business Bureau has been receiving complaints from people skeptical about these cards, wondering if they’re part of a scam. They’re called Economic Impact Payment (EIP) cards and they’re loaded with your stimulus money. You can activate your EIP Card, set your four-digit PIN and check your balance by calling 1-800-240-8100. It’s worth noting that you don’t have to pay anyone to activate your EIP card, so if someone tells you to pay them, that is a scam. Finally, don’t accidentally throw your EIP card away.

5 common stimulus check scams experts are warning consumers to watch for

The name of President Donald Trump on a stimulus check during the first round of payments earlier this year issued by the IRS to help combat the adverse economic effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. Also be wary of any messages asking you to "verify" your personal information, according to Moody's office. "The IRS will not call, text or email anyone to verify their information," the Identity Theft Resource Center wrote in a recent blog warning of stimulus check scams. There's also been an uptick in cash advance offers at a very high interest rate that adds up to be much higher than the stimulus check, says Quentin Rhoads-Herrera, director of professional services at cybersecurity firm CRITICALSTART. "If anyone offers a cash advance on your stimulus check, be very aware of the underlying terms and conditions of that offer," says Rhoads-Herrera.

cnbc.com

St. Johns County man says movers caused thousands of dollars in damage to furniture

Former St. Johns County resident Keith Liwen said a third of his furniture was damaged when he hired Two Men and a Truck Jacksonville/St. That’s after he said he spent more than two months trying to get the moving company to make things right and repair the damage. “After I got the second estimate, they sent me an email that said they decided to offer me $1,000,” he said. To be fair, we found no red flags about the Jacksonville moving company. Liwen has a warning to anyone who is thinking about hiring a moving company: be careful.

How to spot fake shopping sites and avoid being scammed

Online shopping scams are on the rise as thieves look to take advantage of the increase in people shopping online during the pandemic. Online shopping scams, like the one Black fell for, are on the rise as thieves take advantage of the surge of people flocking to the internet during the pandemic. To lure you onto the sites, scammers pay for ads on Facebook, Google and other websites. So far this year, the FTC has received more than 37,000 reports of online shopping fraud, amounting to $27 million in losses. You can also report the site on the Better Business Bureau and FTC websites, which could help others from being scammed.

Warning: Scammers posing as COVID-19 contact tracers

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. Scammers are posing as contact tracers and trying to trick people into giving them their credit card numbers. They are using social media, robocalls or text messages to contact their victims, preying on your concerns about being exposed to COVID-19 to get their hands on your personal information. RELATED: State leaders warn of scam contact tracer callsStephens said scammers pose as authorities or officials to make themselves look legitimate. While legitimate contract tracers need to obtain private information to confirm your identity before releasing medical information, they will never ask for money, Stephens said. Tell them youll call them back and then contact your local health department directly to confirm someone there is really trying to reach you.

BBB: Avoid sharing your senior photo on Facebook

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – With coronavirus derailing everyone’s high school graduation plans, people are rallying behind the class of 2020 by sharing their senior photos on Facebook. The Better Business Bureau warns that these posts make it easy for hackers to find the name of your high school and graduating class, which often are used in online security questions. It’s not just school details people should be careful about, either. Tom Stephens, president of the Better Business Bureau of Northeast Florida, said these social media challenges all seem like fun and games until your identity is stolen. Below is some advice from the BBB on how to safely navigate social media:

Get a weird Facebook message? It might be an attempt to scam you

JACKSONVILLE, Fla - Have you ever received a strange message on Facebook that didnt seem quite right? In this particular Facebook phishing scam, you might think youre on a Facebook login page when youre actually on a page designed to capture the information you enter. The BBB says: Users receive a Facebook message with a video link asking, "Is this you?" The message will come from someone you are friends with on Facebook, trying to entice you to click the link. If you get a message that looks like a phishing scam, the first thing to do is avoid the link.

Making sure your Bahamas relief donations do the most good

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - While Hurricane Dorian spared Northeast Florida from catastrophic damage, damage to the islands of the Northern Bahamas was catastrophic. Bold City Church is just one of many churches, restaurants and businesses collecting supplies to send to the Bahamas. WINDWARD MARINA GROUP - ST. AUGUSTINETaking donations of marine engines -- be it outboard, inboard, gas or diesel -- solar panels, chargers, batteries and any miscellaneous marine hardware in working order. Just need to stop by the food truckRelief to Bahamas; Upchurch family coordinating (through a local charter company) a collection of donations for Bahamas. Scam artists will often times create a social media page right before they launch the donation campaign, so check to see how long they have been active.

BBB: Summer job employment scams target students

The BBB Scam Tracker has gotten reports of university emails being used to recruit students for fake job opportunities. Scam Tracker data from last year showed that employment scams are the riskiest for students and those between the ages of 18 and 24 with the median loss reported being $1,204. Before school is out for the summer, BBB wants to make sure that students have a firm grasp on the red flags for these scams so they don’t become victims. How the scam works:Scammers will post job advertisements seeking college students for various temporary positions. Recent BBB Scam Tracker reports state that the students have received spoofed emails from their institution advising them of job opportunities.