City warns of possible COVID contact tracing scam

The City of Hamilton is warning residents of a possible COVID contact-tracing scam.

On Wednesday, city spokesperson Jacqueline Durlov said the city received two reports of residents receiving suspicious contact-tracing calls last week. Upon answering the phone, an “unknown source” informed them they were “a secondary contact of a positive case.”

The caller, without saying the name of the person they were speaking with, asked them to confirm their identity.

If the call was legitimate, the contact tracer would have the person’s name, Durlov said.

In both cases, the residents hung up without providing personal information.

“It’s unfortunate with so much going on right now, residents have more to worry about,” Durlov said.

How to tell if your contact-tracing call is legitimate

Durlov said contact tracers call “close contacts” of a person who tested positive, along with the person who tested positive, but they don’t call “secondary contacts” — someone who was a contact of a close contact.

Anyone who receives a suspicious call about COVID contact tracing is asked to call the COVID hotline at 905-974-9848.

In cases where a person is told they have tested positive, “contact tracers know the test date and can provide this to the client,” Durlov said.

They would also know where the person was tested — at a Hamilton Health Sciences site or at St. Joseph’s Healthcare.

“If a client is concerned about a scammer, we can also provide our city phone number and direct extension to the client to have them call us,” she said.

“For (close) contacts, we have less information, but can still provide them with a phone number and extension for them to call us back.”

In a tweet Tuesday afternoon and in one on Dec. 24, the city said public health “does not call residents and ask them to confirm their identity.”

Anyone who receives a suspicious call about COVID contact tracing is asked to call the COVID hotline at 905-9749848.

Durlov said if the city will notify the public if it receives more reports of similar incidents.