Monty Don issues warning as he almost falls victim to scam over 'seemingly Kosher message'

express.co.uk:

Monty Don was horrified today when opportunists took advantage of fear over the pandemic to make an illicit profit.The 66-year-old, full name Montagu Denis Wyatt Don OBE, received a message telling him he'd come into contact with Covid - but it turned out to be a scam.Even worse, the communication came through the NHS app, making it seem more legitimate.Addressing his followers, he cautioned: "Received a seemingly Kosher message via NHS App saying I had been in contact with positive Covid and need specific PCR Omicron test, asking for details including credit card to pay 3.99 for processing."He continued: "This is a scam to get card details so ignore and delete if you get it."Followers responded by retweeting the warning and spreading the message across the social media platform.@titan641 encouraged: "Better still Monty, if you receive a text like this or anything similar, report it to the authorities so they can investigate."He posted a link to the ncsc.gov.uk website, which has advice on how to report spam communication.Meanwhile, Marlene Short had a few words of advice for those receiving the scam through a text message."Rather than deleting, report it by forwarding it to 7726 (SPAM)," she urged."You will get a text asking for the number you received the text from, no personal details, and will be helping to track and stop fraudsters."She added: "This works for texts attempting fraud [but] hopefully there is [also] a way to forward these notifications seemingly from an app."@EllenSkylark exclaimed: "So frightening to think they can contact you/try to scam you, via the NHS website."@pinkpinkpony replied: "I have heard a few people have had this."Just hard to understand what sort of person would stoop so low to profit.