By WKTV Staff
Online scamming is nothing new — according to the Federal Trade Commission the most common categories for fraud complaints in 2019 were imposter scams, debt collection and identity theft, with identity-theft linked credit card fraud reported by more than 167,000 people.
But in the current world of COVID-19 awareness, cybercriminals are targeting Americans who are working from home, and spending more time online, according to a story on consumeraffairs.com by Rob Douglas, identity theft protection contributing editor.
“The Federal Trade Commission advises consumers to be wary of cybercriminals exploiting coronavirus fears to steal personally identifiable information (PII),” the Consumer Affairs article states. “Financial information and medical information is especially sensitive right now.”
There is also an increased number of hackers creating malicious websites that spoof legitimate public health resources. For example, a link can seem like it should lead you to a map of “COVID-19 cases near me” could infect your phone or computer with spyware or ransomware.
For reliable information on COVID-19, the public is urged to to visit the Center for Disease Control (cdc.gov) or World Health Organization (who.int) for accurate, safe information about coronavirus trends and statistics.
According to Consumer Affairs, increasingly common COVID-19 scams include:
Fraudulent e-commerce vendors for masks, sanitizers and test kits.
Fraudulent investment sites.
Phishing and vishing through update emails, texts and voicemails.
Spoofed government and health organization communications.
Fake vaccines or “miracle cures”.
Scam employment posts.
Phony charity donation offers.
For the complete ConsumersAffairs.com article, follow this link.
