Covid Scams to Be Aware of

20 May 2020 · 2 min

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In a WBZ News segment, Jim Smith interviews internet security expert Robert Siciliano about the surge in organized fraud during the COVID‑19 pandemic. Siciliano explains that scammers are aggressively targeting the 20 million Americans awaiting stimulus checks, using phishing emails and phone calls that impersonate the U.S. government or the IRS to harvest usernames, passwords, Social Security numbers, and credit‑card data. Victims have lost stimulus money or become ineligible because their SSNs were stolen and used as tax dependents. Scammers also spread false claims that completing census information is required to receive a stimulus check. With more people online, criminals are exploiting social‑media platforms as well. The segment warns viewers to be extremely cautious about clicking links or providing personal information.

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Common thinking that everyone is coming together during these tough times, and for the most part that is true with the coronavirus, but others are trying to take advantage of folks and steal their money. Jim Smith with the cyber scams you need to be aware of.
In my professional career, I have never seen a more organized approach to fraud than during COVID-19.
Robert Siciliano specializes in internet security. For 25 years, he has helped people avoid online scams. They're looking for usernames, passwords, Social Security numbers, credit card numbers. He says crooks are trying to take advantage of the 20 million Americans still waiting for COVID-19 stimulus checks.
With the stimulus pay, uh, bad guys are sending out emails, they are, uh, putting together phone calls, uh, coordinating to contact individuals posing as the U.S. government, the IRS, saying that their stimulus check is on the way or they're having a problem with that person's information, and they're trying to get usernames, passwords, and Social Security numbers of those potential victims.
One victim lost his stimulus money because somebody stole his Social Security number.
I looked it up on the website and it said that somebody had used my, uh, Social Security on their taxes as a dependent, and that made me not eligible to get my, uh, stimulus. No clue, no clue. I, I never really put my social out there, so that kind of surprises me that, you know, somebody has my social.
Scammers are also telling potential victims they need to fill out census information to get a stimulus check, which isn't true.
And then there's social media.
Many of us are stuck at home trying to reach out on the computer. Cyber criminals are prowling those sites too.
Bad guys are completely ramped up at this point, and it is inevitable that you or I are going to be clicking links that could send us down the rabbit hole of fraud. So be extremely careful.
Jim Smith, WBZ News.