VERIFY: Yes, the Census Bureau is sending emails and texts about a new survey related to the pandemic
There are several specific ways to tell if you are really being recruited for the new survey about the impact of the coronavirus.
INDIANAPOLIS — Privacy experts issue repeated warnings to be careful about unsolicited emails or texts that ask you to fill out surveys or to provide personal information. So, a VERIFY viewer was skeptical when she received an email that claimed to be from the U.S. Census Bureau and asked her to click a link and fill out a survey with a lot of information about her situation during the pandemic.
The VERIFY team learned that the government agency is doing research about the impact of the pandemic, and it is reaching out to participants by email and by text message.
THE QUESTION
Is the U.S. Census Bureau asking for information concerning COVID-19? Is the Bureau sending emails to recruit survey participants?
THE ANSWER
Yes, the U.S. Census Bureau has a new survey researching the impact of the pandemic, and the agency is sending emails and text messages to ask people to participate.
There are several specific items to check for on a text or email to make sure it is legitimately from the federal agency.
Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey
WHAT WE FOUND
The U.S. Census Bureau launched its new Household Pulse Survey in April 2020. It’s designed to collect details about the economic and social impact the pandemic is having across the country each week for about a year.
The 20-minute online survey asks participants a variety of questions about work, school, stimulus payments, housing, physical and mental wellbeing and attitudes about the virus and vaccine.
The list of questions on the survey is available for anyone to read online.
Examples of the Topics:
- Once a vaccine is available to you, will you get it?
- Do you expect that you or anyone in your household will experience a loss of income in the next 4 weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic?
- If you received a stimulus payment, what did you do with it? If you spent it, how did you spend it?
- Have your children changed their school routine during the pandemic?
- Have you traveled less during the pandemic?
- Have you been anxious or had trouble sleeping in the last seven days?
- How confident are you that you can pay your next rent/mortgage payment on time?
The survey started April 23, 2020. After the initial phase of the study, the Census Bureau found that of adults age 18 and over, 47% either lost employment income or another adult in their household lost employment income since the start of the pandemic. Of the adults who responded to the survey in the early days of the pandemic, more than half reported worrying much of the time and 19% reported feeling down more than half of the previous week.
The results of the survey so far are available in an online interactive map.
The U.S. Census Bureau is scheduled to continue the survey through March 1.
GET A TEXT OR EMAIL FROM THE CENSUS BUREAU?
The Census Bureau says it is randomly selecting addresses for participation in the survey. Then it is reaching out by email and by text with a link to ask people to fill out the Household Pulse Survey. The email includes both a Spanish and an English translation.
If you get an email or text, there are several ways to check if it is the real deal.
Check the sender
- An email from the Census Bureau will come from .
- A text from the Census Bureau will come from 39242.
Check that link to take the survey takes you to a “.gov” address
- The message will have a link for you to take the survey. In an email, you can often just hover over the link to see the destination address. Always check the URL after you click and double check that everything is spelled correctly.
Does the message ask you to reply directly with personal information?
- If it does, do NOT reply.
- The Census Bureau will not ask you to send any personal information via email or text.
- The Census Bureau will never ask for your social security or bank account numbers, even in a survey.
- The surveys may ask other personal information, but the Census Bureau is required by law to protect your information. It will not publicly release responses in a way that identifies a specific person.
The Census Bureau has additional information online about to verify that the mail or contact is legitimate.
