In the context of a rapidly developing pandemic associated with COVID-19 infection and a general increase in panic, ideal conditions were created for fraudsters to commit fraud.
And this is not only about the export of masks and medicines abroad. Now in many countries and cities quarantine has been announced, which is forcing the population to digitalize more and more. People will spend more and more time at home at computers, surfing the Internet actively and working from a virtual cloud.
These are ideal conditions for the development of cyber fraud. So, what types of frauds will prevail and how to protect yourself from them?
– Spamming emails from pseudo-medical centers to control the spread of the virus. It can be links with information about the methods of treating the virus, statistics of its distribution. By opening this letter or link, you infect your computer with a virus, which leads to the risk of information loss or providing attackers with access to confidential information.
– “Caming” selling products through online marketplaces such as Amazon and Walmart. Fraudsters offer products for healing or protection against the coronavirus, requiring a lot of money for them, of course. By placing an order, the buyer as a result remains either with nothing, or receives defective / defective products and cannot return the money for it. Without going to the police, at least.Свернуть
– Fake sites with various kinds of donations to fight the COVID-19 virus. Your money, of course, goes into the pocket of scammers.
– Wholesale online sale of prepaid masks and antiseptics in conditions of their shortage in the market from fake sellers. Masks in this case, if you get, then at a huge, overpriced tens of times the price.
– Sending letters selling fake online cards for the spread of the virus on the planet. For example, with reference to a study by Johns Hoppkins University. By following this link, you infect your PC and so on.
The greater the panic surrounding the new disease, the more new patterns will appear and, accordingly, the deceived victims
1. Do not click on links in which you are not sure, in order to avoid the risk of infection of your PC.
2. Ignore online vaccination campaigns for coronavirus and any other virus-related offers at a significant discount.
3. Do not respond to letters from unfamiliar addressees with an offer to help treat the virus and generally do not respond to offers that do not lend themselves to sound logic.
4. Do not send money in advance when purchasing goods on the Internet.
All these, of course, are absolutely trivial fraudulent cases and the rules of online hygiene, but in the conditions of turbulence and increasing panic, you can forget about them. The most important tip: stay alert.
