DON'T GET COVID SCAMMED
Posted due to a request from the public:
Are there really people so low they would try to bilk us out of our money by preying on our justifiable fears of the COVID-19 Pandemic?
Oh come on, you know the answer to that one.
In fact the people who try to catalog such larceny are having a hard time keeping up with just listing the wide variety of scams now operating.
It’s easy to see why scams are working. This is something new and fear is a powerful motivator. Total losses by victims in the United States are estimated at over $100-million.
Here are a few of the most effective and innovative to watch out for:
• Free Groceries—You get a text saying you’ve just won free $130 in groceries to help during then pandemic. All they need to deliver them is your personal information. If you send it, all you get is your identity stolen.
• We Can Cure It—Fake COVID-19 cures range from colloidal silver, essential oils, gels and more. All they will “cure” is your bank balance. It will go down. The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) is pursuing criminal action against a number of these scammers.
• Stimulus Check Scams—Way too many to list, but all will claim to assist you in getting a stimulus check, even though you may have already received one. All have one thing in common, they request either money or information. One has even gone so far as to create a reasonable facsimile of the IRS website which installs malware with the purpose of stealing information.
• Fake COVID-19 Tests—Scammers call and ask for personal and medical insurance information to send “free testing kits.” Of course they use this information to commit identity theft.
• Social Security Scare—Scammers call, pretending to be the Social Security Administration, and ask for personal information, such as SSNs. Sometimes they try to scare you, saying your account has been suspended due to fraudulent activity and getting your information is the only way to restore it.
• Undelivered goods—This one was more prevalent in the early days of the pandemic when most people were under a lockdown but it could still catch people, particularly senior citizens who are wary of going out. Scammers sell essential goods online and promise to deliver them. The buyer then puts in their financial information and purchases the product, but never receives it. The money is simply kept by the scammer.
The Federal Trade Commission says there are five ways to avoid most COVID-19 scams as follows:
. Ignore offers for vaccinations and home test kits.
. Hang up on robocalls.
. Watch out for “phishing” emails and text messages that ask for personal and financial information.
. Don’t click on links in emails or texts you didn’t expect.
. Research before you donate to anything.
Stay safe. Yes, we mean from the COVID-19 virus, but also from the human “viruses” who would use it to enrich themselves.—M.B.