Today@Willamette

Contact tracing

Reopening Operations Committee

State and federal officials released a warning about phone scams in which callers pose as COVID-19 contact tracers to gain access to people’s financial information. The following points will help you to determine whether a contact tracing call is legitimate.

• Contact tracers will never ask for payment information, such as a credit card or bank account number.
• Text messages from the health department will never include links. They will never ask you to click on links. Health department texts merely inform you that a contact tracer will be calling soon.
• Contact tracers will never ask for your Social Security number.
• Contact tracers will never identify a COVID patient by name.
• Contact tracers will never ask for your immigration status.
• If anyone calls you asking for the above information, hang up.
• If you are contacted by a contact tracer and are unsure whether the call is legitimate, ask for the tracer’s name and phone number. You can then consult the Oregon Health Authority’s resources to discern whether the call is legitimate before calling back.

Public health authorities will ask you for the following information.

• County of residence
• Date of birth
• Contact information including phone number, email address and mailing address
• Occupation
• Whether you have symptoms of COVID-19
• Race, ethnicity, language and disability information

Thank you for being diligent. If you are contacted by a scammer, please report it to the Oregon attorney general’s office.

If you need assistance from someone on campus, please contact Bishop Wellness Center.

For up to date information about scams, fraud and other threats to consumers, sign up for alerts from Oregon’s Scam Alert Network.