A very convincing piece of fake news is circulating about the NHS this week. Michelle Disraeli from Leeds tweeted that the UK government will be telling people by post how to acquire the contact tracing app, and then points out how easy it would be for a scammer to abuse the process. She then posts a photo of a letter from the NHS announcing the app, and sending the public to nhs-app.site to download the app.
The recipient’s address is redacted and the letter seems to come from a Dr Robert Bank, Director of Medicine for the Leeds and York Partnership.
But, it turns out not only is the letter from the NHS a scam, the scam itself is a hoax. Disraeli, a Cyber security professional, mocked up the letter to do exactly as she states – demonstrate how easy it would be for a scammer to game a snail-mail-based system for app distribution. Up until the 5th, following the link rickrolled you to a video of “Never Gonna Give You Up”. And Disraeli has since clarified her viral post, making it clear the letter was her invention.