With the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, protecting your health has become the #1 priority. Unfortunately, protecting your property and your privacy from criminals has also become increasingly important as scams and frauds soar during these trying times.
The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented event, and we’re all concerned about the health and safety of our loved ones. If that weren’t enough, the pandemic has also brought in its wake criminals, fraudsters and scammers, who are feeding off the uncertainty brought on by the pandemic to deceive and steal.
As anxiety spreads, so do the scammers
According to law enforcement and cyber security experts, fraudsters have exponentially ramped up their criminal activities with the arrival of COVID-19. The pandemic has made people particularly vulnerable to online scams for two reasons. One, the heightened emotions that it has generated make us vulnerable to these criminals’ manipulations and deceptions. Two, the physical distancing necessary to help reduce the spread of the virus has left many of us isolated. This helps criminals to confuse and beguile their victims to more easily manipulate them into doing what they want.
Stay cyber safe
The arrival of the coronavirus did not mark the beginning of phone and cyber (or online) crime and information theft. Fraudsters and thieves existed long before the arrival of the Internet. They existed before there were terms like phishing – where criminals send emails falsely purporting to be from real companies in an effort to induce you to provide them with key personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers. But the pandemic has introduced a raft of specific COVID-19- related scams:
- Texts: Messages that appear to be from upstanding organizations like the Red Cross asking you to click a link to receive a free face mask or other PPE (personal protective equipment) are very likely false. Delete the text, and head to the organization’s actual website to get the facts.
- Emails: Be on the lookout for COVID-19 emails pretending to be from a charity raising money to help in the fight against the virus, or from a government department to provide an “urgent” update or financial refund – they are phishing emails. Delete them and reach out directly to the charity or government agency.
- Phone: Beware of anyone claiming to be from an official government health organization. With one recent scam, fake officials falsely claim that you have tested positive for COVID-19, and ask you to provide them with your personal and financial information so you can receive a prescription for treatment. Don’t provide any information, and instead just hang up. Ideally, don’t answer calls from numbers you don’t recognize.