Be Careful of COVID-19 Scams and How to Avoid them?

Scammers are taking advantage of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to fraud people into giving up their money. Be careful when accepting proposals to support and use trusted delivery services for supplies and food.

Scams offering Vaccination Kits:

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a recent cautionary about online home-based vaccination kits for COVID-19. FTC cautions not to give any personal info to people demanding to have a vaccine.

Scams offering COVID-19 Treatment:

Some coronavirus spam text messages claim there is a treatment for COVID-19 and inspire the receiver to buy, which would need to share your personal data. There is no medicine for COVID-19 and you should not click on any links within a text message that claims to have a medication for COVID-19, nor should send any personal info or capitals to these scammers.

Scams offering COVID 19 Testing Kits:

A recent coronavirus scam claims to have free home testing kits which can be sent out if you give personal info. Scammers are mentioning these kits by names such as a COVID-19 kit or a Coronavirus package. Do not respond to this scam. There are no free home testing kits available for coronavirus. If you are in contact with such a proposal you should instantly report to the FTC to close these scammers down.

Fake Coronavirus-related Charity Scams:

It’s no secret that scammers use natural calamities and other events to take advantage of your kindness, and they may use names that sound a lot like the names of real charities or organizations seeking contributions. When contributing to a COVID-19 relief charity, remember to check the creator’s profile and try to confirm the genuineness by registering status. Be alert of those donations particularly on social media sites or in a suspicious message, and avoid sharing personal and financial details on these sites.  

‘Person in Need’ Scams:

Criminals are pretending to be a relative or acquaintance who claims to be sick in a different state or nation, or in financial trouble and requests their victim to send money. A common scammer policy and red flag are to request you to keep it a secret and urge you to act fast, sending money. In this circumstance, hang up and call your family to make sure the story checks out.   

The best defense is to say NO if:

• Anyone contacts you and enquires for your Social Security number, bank account number, credit card information, or driving license number.
• Anyone contacts you enquiring about any other personal data by phone, in person, by text message, or email.
• Someone you don’t know contacts you and requests money through a payment app.
• Someone you don’t know sends you a check, maybe for prize winnings or the sale of belongings, and requests you to send a share of the money back.

If something doesn’t feel right to you. Trust your gut. Stay safe!