Watch Your Mail, Someone Is Pretending To Be Amarillo Health
There's a good bit of scams floating around the Bomb City right now, One passing off as homeland security, another asking for your overdue library fines and because we need bad news in threes for some reason there's a new one that is coming for your health and again the method is posing as a city agency to get at your info.
The latest scam doesn't come via phone but by an old stand by... snail mail... which if you're gonna look official, using paper with a letterhead adds a nice touch of class to your credibility because unlike phones with spoofed caller ID's and email with garbage return addresses, Mail is a little easier to to fake. Here's what you need to look for
It looks like it's coming from Amarillo Public Health
The letters in question are coming to those who have been tested positive for COVID-19 and are in process of contact tracing with the city. The letters ask for all kinds of personal information including social security numbers, payment information and other identifying items that are certainly not related to finding out who you have been in contact with. The city itself even states when they do send correspondence with those they are working with, they are very specific on what forms they are sending and will notify you what to expect. While names addresses and birthdays are part of it, anything related to payment is not legit. Amarillo Police even put out a sample of the more legitimate letters you would expect from the city.
The other method the city uses is password protected email. In this case the contact tracer or public health official will give you a specific password for each communication.
A little common sense goes a long way, If you weren't expecting something from the city or havent been around someone dealing with COVID-19 who is in communication with the city, be leary of the letter and of course you can always contact Amarillo Public Health to verify.