Contact tracing again. Either Jenny Harries (and Jonathan Van-Tam before her) have been woefully poorly briefed, or there really is no kind of verification system built into the system.

Either of those possibilities is awful. Neither seems that difficult to believe.

We need to be clear.
1) Under no circumstances should people respond to unverified requests for information about themselves, or about others.
2) Under no circumstances should people be expected to obey orders from unverified sources to self-isolate or anything similar.

If there *is* some kind of verification system in place, it needs to be made very, very clear.

If there *isn’t*, then they need to develop one *very* fast indeed.

This isn’t an area where ‘trust’ or ‘common sense’ can be used in any way at all. Neither do the job. Both are recipes for scammers and mischief makers.

If you can’t see the scam imagine this. “We have reason to believe you have been in contact with someone who has tested positive for the virus. You need to self isolate and get tested. Unfortunately government tests have a backlog. For £50, though, we can give you a private test”

And that’s just one off the top of my head. I’m not a scammer: they’ll come up with more and better ways to make you part with information and/or money.

History shows that whenever a new technology or new situation appears, criminals find ways to exploit it. They will here. They already have tried in relation to the app in the Isle of Wight. /end rant

P.S. I’m angry about this. I expect incompetence from our government, but this is really basic stuff. Really basic!