Greg's Corner

Coronavirus scams continue to spread

The coronavirus continues to command headlines lately due to the number of deaths that have been reported. The virus is also slowing global trade and industry over fears of causing a global pandemic. People all over the world are constantly searching for information about the virus in order to protect themselves. Unfortunately, a lot of people are getting their information about the virus from questionable sources. We’re not just talking about the usual urban legends and old wives tales that propagate on social media. We’re talking about potentially dangerous products and practices that are being spread online in the name of profit during a time of crisis.

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The Better Business Bureau is warning the public about con artists who are claiming to have vaccines, prevention products like masks, and tips. The efficacy of masks has been called into question and many websites that claim to be selling masks are just traps to try to steal your identity. As of the time of publishing this post, no vaccine has yet to be developed that can prevent the spread of the virus. Anybody touting any kind of cure or prevention online is more than likely a scammer.

In our previous post about the coronavirus, we discussed how cybercriminals are using the fear of the virus to commit phishing attacks. These phishing attacks appear to be increasing. Some of the emails being sent are coming from domains that look like official channels but aren’t For example, some of the emails being sent are reportedly coming from the domain of CDC-gov.com. This is not an official government domain as most of them end strictly in .gov. The Centers for Disease Control’s actual website is at CDC.gov. Some emails are even posing as the CDC asking for donations in Bitcoin. The federal government and especially the CDC would never reach out to the public by email. Any responses to these phony emails could potentially put your personal and financial information at risk.

Again, if you need current and up to date information about the coronavirus, you can get it at the websites for the World Health Organization, or the Centers for Disease Control.