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NHS contact tracing undermined by hackers sending fraudulent warnings to public

UK National Health Service employee Anni Adams looks at new NHS app  - Reuters
UK National Health Service employee Anni Adams looks at new NHS app - Reuters

The new NHS test and trace programme is being undermined by hackers sending out phishing scams falsely warning the public they may have Covid-19.

Public Health England have warned potential contacts to check suspicious messages against the Government website after a flurry of reports of Britons being falsely informed they may have coronavirus.

Several public health directors have called for all forms of communication from contact tracers to involve two-step verification to eradicate the risk of scammers gaining confidential information.

However, Prof Isabel Oliver, who helped design the Government programme to trace people at risk of infection, says the public should instead check suspicious messages against the Government's online test and trace explainer.

"It is something that we have considered very carefully," she told the Sunday Telegraph. "We've got the information online to help people assess whether the call is from us and we have put arrangements in place. Trust is important and we rely on the public's trust for this to work."

She suggested call handlers have been given lengthy instructions on how to the public's trust, which she said would be critical in test and trace's success.

"It's true that some of the conversations can be difficult because of the effect this (trust) can have on the public or because they are worried or anxious, which is understandable," she added. "I do understand that but all I can say is to encourage the public to what we are trying to do is to protect them and their family and friends from this virus."

Those contacted as part of track and trace will be advised to self isolate and Labour will on Sunday urge the Government to plug gaps in statutory sick pay to help businesses with over 250 employees claim back from HMRC should their workers be contacted.

Anneliese Dodds, the shadow chancellor, said: “Without giving businesses the extra financial support they need to make sure their employees can self-isolate, we risk pushing them into further financial distress when they are already over stretched."