EPS investigating reports of vaccination scam targeting homeless population

Edmonton police are investigating reports that homeless people are being offered money to get vaccinated while pretending to be someone else.

Edmonton police are investigating reports that homeless people are being offered money to get vaccinated while pretending to be someone else.

A client at Boyle Street was approached by someone who wanted her to get a vaccine so the person offering money could pretend they had gotten the shot.

“She’s been approached by someone who’s wanting her to get vaccinated for COVID with this other persons health information, so their name and their birthday and their Alberta Health Care number,” said Linda Pires-Relvas, a Boyle Street Streetworks nurse.

According to Alberta Health Services, when someone gets a COVID-19 vaccine they are asked to provide a piece of identification such as:

“If a person doesn’t have a piece of government-issued identification available, other methods may be used to confirm the individual’s identity,” said a statement from AHS.

According to Pires-Relvas, her client isn’t the only one who has been approached.

“Some of her friends that she knows had also been offered money and gotten multiple vaccines,” said Pires-Relvas. “They had already gotten their own vaccines but now were getting third, fourths, fifths doses.”