Coronavirus scammers are calling SLO County residents. Here’s what to look out for
A new coronavirus-related phone scam just popped on the San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department’s radar.
Residents who haven’t taken COVID-19 tests called the county and said someone claiming to be with the health department called and told them they tested positive for the virus, county public health officer Dr. Penny Borenstein said at a Wednesday news briefing.
“We’ve got a number of people that have reached out to us and said, ‘Hey I got called but I never got a test. How is it possible that I’m positive,’ ” Borenstein said.
Borenstein said the county believes the scammers hope to gather personal information and cause public distrust of the health department by implying that the public health department is miscounting cases.
Borenstien said at a Wednesday news briefing that, despite the scam, the department’s case count is accurate.
“We are not miscounting people,” Borenstein said. “With every single case that we get, we get bona fide laboratory confirmation of a positive result.”
If a person tests positive for coronavirus, they will be contacted by the San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department, Borenstein said, and it is important for people to answer that call for contact tracing.
“If you do receive a call from SLO County Public Health, I think it even says ‘EOC contact tracing,’ please answer the call,” she said. “This is vitally important for our community.”
She said contract tracers need to “get information from you that will help us better understand the source of transmission.”
Here are a few ways to tell if the call is legitimate, according to Borenstein:
- Make sure the caller has an 805 area code.
- Make sure the first three digits of the phone number are either 788 or 781.
- The county’s number usually has a caller ID.
- The county will not ask for social security numbers.
- The county will not ask for immigration status.
- The county will not ask for financial or payment information.
Visit ReadySLO.org for the latest public health updates and recommendations.
To make a testing appointment, visit emergencySLO.org/testing; you can register by phone at 888-634-1123.
The county continues to ask that people limit large social gatherings and wear face coverings in public spaces when physical distancing can’t be maintained, in accordance with a state mandate issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
This story was originally published July 23, 2020 at 12:54 PM.
