Phishing and spoofing scams
Phishing, smishing and related scams reported to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center more than doubled in 2020 compared to the previous year, making up a big part of what the bureau called a pandemic-fueled “internet crime spree.”
In addition, cybercrooks registered tens of thousands of COVID-related spoof web domains in the first year of the pandemic, according to a March 2021 report by Palo Alto Networks, a cybersecurity company. The Justice Department has shut down hundreds of these suspect sites, which promise access to personal protective equipment, relief payments, vaccines and other aid, often in the guise of government agencies or humanitarian organizations.
If you contact one of those malicious domains, you could start getting phishing emails from fraudsters in an attempt to get personal information from you directly, or to plant malware that digs into personal files on your computer, looking for passwords and other private data for purposes of identity theft.
The Department of Justice issued an alert in late March about phishing emails and text messages disguised as surveys about COVID-19 vaccines, purportedly sent out by shot producers Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca and promising a “free” reward if you provide bank or credit card information to cover a small fee. Authorities in states holding vaccine lotteries, including California, Maryland and Washington, warned residents that genuine messages notifying winners will not ask for Social Security numbers, bank information or other private data.
Scammers are also impersonating Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials in texts, calls and emails, seeking personal information to “register” people for a federal program to help cover funeral expenses for victims of COVID-19, according to a June 2021 Better Business Bureau alert. The program is real, but any unsolicited contact about it is fake; FEMA says it only reaches out to people who have already contacted the agency about funeral aid.
Editor’s note: This article was published on March 9, 2020. It is being updated regularly with information on new coronavirus scams, law-enforcement actions and fraud statistics from the FTC.
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