If you’ve been on Instagram or Facebook these past few months, you might have been hit with the occasional engagement or pregnancy announcement, but there’s one announcement trend that might actually do more harm than good — the vaccination card selfie.
Yes, you’ve probably seen it before. Someone gets their COVID-19 vaccine, and after releasing a sigh of relief, they grab their smartphone, open the front-facing camera, and take a selfie with their self-identifying COVID-19 vaccination card. Then, they post it on social media.
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While this act may be done with great intentions, as we have lived through a pandemic for over a year this month, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) is warning selfie-takers of the possible threat it poses.
According to the BBB, the self-identifying information on the card makes you vulnerable to identity theft and can help scammers create phony versions.
Unfortunately, the card has your full name and birthday on it, as well as information about where you got your vaccine. If your social media privacy settings aren’t set high, you may be giving valuable information away for anyone to use — including scammers.
Therefore, in order to better protect yourself from any sort of identity theft or misuse, it may be safer to share your vaccine sticker (if handed one), use a Facebook Frame stating you’ve received it, write it out in a tweet, Instagram Story, or Facebook status, review your security settings on all social platforms, and be wary of participating in all viral prompts that may put your personal information at risk.
For more information, click here.