The State Health Commissioner is warning Virginians to watch out for fake websites to access their vital records. The state is responding to complaints that these sites are scamming people out of their money and sometimes more.
The Virginia Department of Health has your vital records from the day you were born and state officials say, you don’t want the wrong people accessing them on your behalf.
Janet Rainey: And if you have provided all of your vital information, name, date of birth, place of birth, information that someone can easily use to steal your identity.
Janet Rainey, State Registrar, Virginia Department of Health says their only complaints so far are that the sites are charging for services you can get free directly from VDH and they often don’t do what they promise.
Rainey: If you Google “birth certificate.” You’re going to get a list of companies that indicate they can obtain your official certified copy.
The official VDH website is farther down on search engine websites like Google, but she says, look for it.
Rainey: www.vdh.virginia.gov
Health officials say the state will not send certified copies of your vital records to third party sites.
