The COVID-19 vaccine certificate is free and any requests you may receive for payment are fraudulent, health authorities have warned.

The Health Ministry issued a notice on social media on Saturday morning to alert people to an online scam targeting people trying to access their COVID-19 vaccine certificate. 

Tricksters are sending people SMS messages asking them to click a link to access their certificates.

The link leads people to a website that mimics the look of the official COVID-19 vaccine certification website, with a request to pay a small fee to access their certificates. 

Such scams, which aim to trick people into handing over their banking details by posing as official websites, are known as phishing scams.

They have been prevalent locally in recent months, with online fraudsters mimicking MaltaPost, DHL and other reputable companies in their cybercrime attempts. 

Malta’s police force also issued a warning about the COVID-19 vaccine certificate scam. “The message below is a SCAM,” the police said on Facebook. “The Covid-19 vaccine certificate is free. The health authorities will never ask you for your bank details.”

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