Last week, the government launched its Test and Trace service, aimed at contacting those who may have come into contact with someone with coronavirus symptoms.

Soon after, FullFact, the UK’s independent fact checking charity, saw reports on social media that scammers could be exploiting the launch of the service to send fake Test and Trace messages that were actually phishing attempts.

There are a number of ways to verify if you are being contacted by genuine NHS Test and Trace staff. Real contact tracers will never do any of the following:
• Ask you for details of card or bank account numbers
• Ask you to provide or fill in social media login details
• Ask you to set up a pin
• Ask you to download anything