SCAM text message - You have been in recent contact with a person who is positive for Omicron/COVID

[countessalmirena]

This morning, I received an SMS that looked very official and legitimate. Because it did look so convincing (one of the best examples I've seen), I wanted to warn everyone here about this particular text message.

The apparent sender was au.gov. (That's the name which comes up as the sender.) Of course this is spoofed.

The content of the SMS states:

You've recently interacted with someone who has the omicron variant. Please order a free test kit [...] (and a link is included in the message)

Upon receiving the message, I googled and found the relevant phishing text message, almost word for word, but using "is positive for COVID-19" rather than "has the omicron variant". Same basic phishing script.

What alarmed me about this text message on behalf of other people is that it's a very sophisticated approach.

• The sender certainly appears to be an official government source;
• Both Apple and android phones have - in their recent upgrades - included a setting to allow notifications to people who've been in contact with confirmed cases, so this text message may be very convincing to the average smart phone user;
• The text message itself has no spelling errors; and
• There are free RATs for a good number of Australians, so a link to obtain one might not seem entirely crazy.

The website on which I found the reference to this scam is ServicesAustralia.gov.au, with the exact link being https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/text-message-scam-for-free-covid-19-test-kit

The news item is dated 14 June 2022, so this has been around in this current incarnation for at least a couple of weeks already.

This is an image from that website, showing a screenshot of the text message. It's almost exactly the same as the phishing text that I received.

If you receive anything of a similar nature, please delete it. Don't click onto the link; just delete.

You could direct people to the ServicesAustralia website if you think they might be vulnerable to this scam.

[ambercat16]

I got exactly the same message the other day.  Funny thing was a good friend of mine had advised that she had tested positive for Covid a few days earlier.  I had been to lunch with her the week before so there was a small likelihood that the text was genuine

but.......

* tracking is not being done here in Darwin anymore so how would 'the government' know I had been in contact with her?

* none of the other lunch attendees received a message

.......so I deleted it. 

[papermoon.lady]

While reading the Countess's message I thought exactly the same, ambercat - there is no tracking here any more either, and they have also redefined what "contacts" are. So... no chance. These scammers really don't have a life.

[*sons_and_daughters*]

Despite having to QR code into businesses until earlier this year, actual contact tracing well and truly stopped last year in NSW. That's why I could never understand why they insisted we still "check in". Visitors still have to "check in" at hospitals in the state, but I think that's about it. Again, I have no idea why, when there is no contact tracing.

If someone tests positive in the hospital, then anyone who entered the building in that 24 hour day is going to get an alert on their phone through the Service NSW app. Unless that has stopped too. That positive person could have been in the hospital for 30 minutes, yet anyone who entered that day, gets the alert. It's ridiculous and a complete waste of time.