Fraudsters use states' COVID-19 lotteries to swipe PII, money

Suzy Colombo received a call from a supposed state agency employee who said she’d won a $10,000 cash prize in a COVID-19 incentive program. To claim the prize, the caller told Suzy that she had to send a $1,000 gift card for an “upfront fee” and provide her banking financial information that the agency would use to deposit the fee and prize. Soon after, she discovered her bank account had a zero balance.

This case is fictional, but according to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) scammers are indeed posing as government officials to tell victims they’re winners of state lotteries for motivating reluctant citizens to receive COVID-19 vaccinations. Of course, the fraudsters then ask for bank account details, Social Security numbers and other personally identifiable information (PII) to enable identity theft schemes. (See COVID-19 lottery and sweepstakes scams target vaccine recipients, ITRC.)

Several U.S. states offered cash and attractive gift incentives to the vaccine-reluctant.

West Virginia dangled college scholarships, pickup trucks and cash. Minnesota provided state park passes, fishing licenses, and state fair and regional amusement park tickets.