CINCINNATI — If you've received your COVID-19 vaccine or scheduled an appointment to get it soon, be on the lookout for scammers seeking to target you afterward.
Jack and Renee Grady of West Chester, Ohio, were thrilled to get their second vaccine shot a few weeks ago. They got an email from Pfizer the same evening.
"It said 'Pfizer Study' on the top, 'opinion survey, you can earn money,'" Jack Grady said.
But Jack and his wife were suspicious: They hadn't heard of Pfizer giving out money.
BBB issues warning
It's a good thing they questioned it, because the Better Business Bureau is now issuing a scam alert about these surveys.
"They follow what's happening in the news, and vaccines are a very hot topic right now we know," said Sara Kemerer of the Cincinnati BBB.
Kemerer said any survey claiming to come from Pfizer, Astra Zeneca or Moderna is most likely a scam. The BBB has no reports yet of J&J vaccine surveys, but she assumes those are coming, too.
Kemerer said victims are asked to give the survey their credit card information.
"And of course the victim's cards were charged not only once, but multiple times," she warned.
This grift is similar to past survey scams involving Walmart, Target, Aldi and other stores.
Check return address and URL
The Gradys are glad they took a closer look: They discovered a strange and misspelled return address on which Pfizer was spelled Fizer.
"You take that second look and find out who sent it," Grady said.
None of the vaccine makers are surveying patients. They've already done thousands of trials and certainly are not handing out cash to vaccine recipients.
So be suspicious, and don't waste your money.
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