by Anita Schnee, Attorney at Law
Research for this article on Covid-19 scams had to stop before the writer was engulfed and drowned by a tsunami of Covid-19 scam reports. It is lamentable that criminals come out of the woodwork whenever people are vulnerable or in need, and nobody needs reminding how many of us are in precisely that condition these days. The opportunities to exploit fear and need are especially rich and varied in the Covid environment. ABC News reports that as of April 10, the Federal Trade Commission logged $12 million in Covid-related theft. Given that the epidemic didn’t start to bite in the U.S. until March at the earliest, that is some impressive number for less than two months.
This article cautions against only a few examples of the teeming hordes of ingenious criminal scams that seek to prey on our worries and separate us from our money, at a time when we can least afford it. The Department of Homeland Security recommends a visit to the National Cybersecurity Alliance website, which provides a long, long list of resources and specific advice, for example for remote workers.
The FBI has compiled a depressingly long list of warnings, which grows daily. The Federal Communications Commission advises of scams principally relying on the telephone. Have a listen, on the FCC website, to the recorded examples of frauds being tried. Some are surprisingly persuasive. One particularly pernicious example is a bogus offer for a free corona test coupled with a diabetes monitor. (How do these scammers sleep at night?)
The phone calls can show genuine-looking but spoofed numbers from a D.C. area code. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will not be calling you to demand that you take a “mandatory” Covid test. It will not call to warn you of an “outbreak” in your area and offer to connect you with a health-care “advisor.” The IRS will never call to mine your personal information for any purpose over the phone, but, these days, watch out especially for calls urging you to take action to hasten your tax refund or your Covid stimulus check. You will get those by mail or direct deposit. Never by phone or text notices.
Beware of texts and phone calls offering sanitizing products or free streaming entertainment services during quarantine. Beware of threats to suspend your Social Security benefits due to fraud “discovered” on your account. Hang up and contact your local Social Security Office. If you are holding a student loan, your lender will not be calling on the phone – it may offer you some Covid relief by mail, but it will not do so over the wires.
Do not divulge Medicare information over the phone. The Office of the Inspector General warns that personal information “can be used to fraudulently bill Federal health care programs and commit medical identity theft. If Medicare or Medicaid denies the claim for an unapproved test, the beneficiary [in other words, you] could be responsible for the cost.”
Pay attention to children’s exposure. The FBI warns that “children who are home from school and spending more time online may be at increased risk for exploitation.”
Forbes has provided a list of suspect websites and domains. If you get a text or email from a friend that seems out of character, call your friend first, to make sure he or she wasn’t hacked. Before you donate to any charity, always verify first by calling it yourself or by checking its website. If you open a bad email by mistake, whatever you do, do not ever click on links or open attachments. Simply close and delete the message.
Report fraud by contacting your state Attorney General’s office, or the National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at (866) 720-5721, disaster@leo.gov
It is a crying shame that in addition to expending energy to stay vigilant against illness, we must also remain alert to protect ourselves from criminal exploitation.
