COVID-19 Scams On The Rise

One of the greatest opportunities for scammers are times of distress. Amid coronavirus we are seeing an epidemic of scams tapping into people’s fears, anxieties and uncertainties. False promises, fake charities, emails for unemployment assistance. The Federal Trade Commission said on Monday it had received over 7,000 complaints of scams related to coronavirus and COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

“The FTC and the FDA are saying there are no approved vaccines or drugs or products that treat or prevent the virus and yet you’ve got websites cropping up saying that ‘oh no, we have something in fact we have an herbal remedy,’” said Doug Fodeman Executive Director of The Daily Scam.

Fodeman says the volume of scams has increased quickly since early March and continues to gain momentum.

“Scammers try to manipulate people, social engineers people’s clicking behavior, choices they make online. And, one of the best ways to do that is to appeal to people’s anxieties and fears and concerns about themselves, their children. That’s why so much of malicious click bait has to do with health.”

Fodeman explains though that it’s not just fraudulent products or empty promises for health. Websites that point toward fiction not fact or disguise themselves as trusted sites, install malware on your computer or collect your personal data.

“An email we got into one of our honey pot accounts that says ‘Coronavirus Has Reached The US’ and the website that it linked to actually was a malicious website.”

You really have to watch every website, every email, every link, every click. Find out how to do that in the full interview below. For a detailed list of scams and how to protect yourself visit The Daily Scam.

Doug Fodeman with The Daily Scam

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