Scammers never take breaks. They’re always on the lookout for the next opportunity to rip off an unsuspecting victim. I’m not surprised at the number of scams related to COVID-19, but it’s still disappointing reading articles about the scams. During a pandemic where everyone is taking a hit. People are struggling with unemployment and the last thing they need is someone scamming them out of the little savings they may have. I can’t reason with people who feed off the misfortune of others, but I can complain.
One of the biggest scams currently happening is the selling of cures and medications for coronavirus online. Vox reported an increase in marketing for at-home testing kits, cures, and phony masks.
Timothy Mackey, a researcher at the University of California San Diego, told Vox: “Every week there’s a new product or a new scam going on. The problem is so pervasive that someone even reached out to him (on LinkedIn, of all places) offering to sell him seemingly fake, rapid test kits in bulk.”
New information about the virus surfacing everyday makes it harder for the public to differentiate between what is real and what is a scam.
There hasn’t been a confirmed cure or treatment for coronavirus yet. A few Google searches can disprove any social media or eBay account selling medication, but not everyone is technology literate. The people who are afraid, watch the news all day, and hear about the shortages in masks and coronavirus tests. So when they see ads selling the most efficient masks and at-home testing, they panic buy.
While you always have to protect yourself when online shopping, there should be more precautions taken by platforms to avoid advertising counterfeit treatments. Crooked sellers should be shut down immediately and money should be refunded to those who were scammed. There should be something written in the company’s policy that offers protection to their customers.
Yahoo reported that another big scam on the rise is robocallers. With people awaiting their stimulus checks and the phone being the best form of communication, hackers are pretending to be from government agencies trying to confirm your identity.
Adam Levin, founder and chairman of CyberScout, issued a warning against robocallers stating, “Do not confirm your identity over the phone. The IRS won’t be calling you about your stimulus check, so any calls on the subject could be a ‘vishing’ scam where the caller is either dialing for dollars or looking to steal your identity.”
Phone scams telling you your car is stuck in the middle of the expressway is one thing, but pretending to be from a government agency when people are concerned about their income is just grimy. The government has more authority to shut down scam callers like this, but they don’t. They leave it up to phone companies, but they aren’t as efficient in blocking spam calls either.
Some people are spiteful and will look for any excuse to take the easy way out. The world is in a state of panic, but some people can only think about themselves and their greed. It shouldn’t be on everyday people to live in fear while shopping online, but unfortunately it’s on us as consumers to be more skeptical during this trying time.