Recent News
December 06, 2021
Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services warns citizens of text message scam
Media Contact:
Lisa Cox, Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services
Lisa.Cox@health.mo.gov
JEFFERSON CITY, MO -- The Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services (DHSS) is warning citizens of a new text message scam targeting citizens and their personal information. According to website registration information, it was established on Dec. 2, 2021, and was registered using a provider from the European Union.
The text message requests that citizens visit a website to enter their social security number, name and date of birth, and upload photos of their Driver License to “validate” their “one-time Covid-19 Vaccine verification.” In an attempt to legitimize the site, logos of DHSS and the Missouri Department of Revenue’s myDMV portal appear along the top.
DHSS has worked with the Office of Administration’s Information Technology Services Division (OA-ITSD) to take all actions at the state’s disposal to report the site to the proper authorities, although the site is hosted and maintained externally.
DHSS will never ask for a citizen’s SSN over email or text message and only provides vaccination verification and records upon request. Citizens have reported these text messages originating from a variety of different phone numbers, and DHSS encourages citizens to protect their personal information online no matter the source.
If a citizen submitted their information through this website, DHSS recommends starting with the following steps to protect themselves:
- Contact your financial institutions to notify them of the privacy breach
- Contact the Social Security Administration to report an exposed SSN
- Contact credit reporting services to alert them your information was disclosed
Media assets: to protect citizens from visiting this malicious site, we have hidden the URL in these screenshots.
- Screenshot 1: desktop screenshot of website
- Screenshot 2: mobile screenshot of website
- Screenshot 3: mobile screenshot of text message
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About the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services: The department seeks to be the leader in protecting health and keeping people safe. More information about DHSS can be found at health.mo.gov or find us on Facebook and Twitter @HealthyLivingMo###