COVID SCAM ROUNDUP

In times of human tragedy, you can count on a lot of things. You can count on the helpers. On seeing the best in people. On seeing the last person you'd expect step up in a big way.

And sadly you can count on scammers trying to make a buck off of fear and misery and suffering.

Collected here are some of the newest scams, alongside some older scams that have taken on new life because of our changing habits.

Phone phonies

These scams begin when you answer your phone. Some scammers pose as doctors or hospitals, offering a free coronavirus test kit, in an attempt to collect your personal information.

Some scammers pose as police, paramedics, or hospitals, claiming one of your loved ones will die of coronavirus unless you pay for a service or an ambulance ride.

Some scammers claim to be selling insurance, which seems especially cruel to people who have lost jobs and need immediate coverage.

Sadly, some scammers claim to be calling from a COVID-related charity, but only want to steal your credit card information.

Here are some guidelines to avoid falling prey to these scams. AARP.com has even more advice on their website.

Invest in caller ID, and then, if you don't recognize the number, don't answer the phone. Anyone with a legitimate need to contact you will leave a message.
Don't assume a call is legitimate just because it's coming from a local number. Scammers have the technology to make it appear as if a call is coming from your city or even neighborhood, even if they're actually calling from outside the country.
Beware of robocalls. A robocall is a call in which you answer the phone, and a computer voice begins to speak. It is illegal for companies in the US to make robocalls unless they have received your written permission. If you're not already a customer or the company making the robocall, they're breaking the law.
- Robocall scammers frequently give a department name, rather than a company name, hoping you'll assume they're calling from a company you have given permission to contact you in this way. For instance, they might claim to be calling from "cardmember services" or "warranty division." Legitimate businesses should always tell you the name of the company they're calling from.
Avoid giving your credit card number to anyone who calls you unless you're absolutely sure they are who they claim to be. If a charity or a bill collector calls asking for money, tell them to send you a donation or payment envelope in the mail. If they argue or try to pressure you further, hang up.
A legitimate organization will never call you and ask for your full social security number, so you should never give it out, no matter who the caller claims to be.
A legitimate organization will never ask you for a computer password - ever, under any circumstances.

Cyber-sick
Avoid any website offering "online COVID testing," especially if you receive an email or text message telling you it's mandatory that you take one. These websites are a scam to collect your personal data. According to the Better Business Bureau, which first warned of the scam, you shouldn't engage with these scammers at all - don't click on links, answer texts, or reply to emails.

Websites like WebMD contain help you determine whether you have COVID symptoms, but so far, the only way to get a diagnosis is to have a test administered in-person by a medical professional.

Social Security
The Motley Fool reports that many people have received official-looking mail that appears to have come from a Social Security office. The letter tells recipients that their benefits are due to be suspended because of the COVID crisis, unless they call the provided phone number.

When the victim calls the number, the scammers trick them into giving over social security numbers and bank account numbers.

Social Security benefits are NOT affected by the COVID crisis, and Social Security will never ask you to provide your social security number or bank account information over the phone or via email.

Quizzes
These data-mining scams aren't directly COVID-related, but now that a whole lot of us have nothing better to do than sit at home playing around on social media, many of us have grown careless with personal information.

Many online surveys that ask for your favorite vegetable, your first job, your stripper name (which might consist of the name of, for instance, your first pet, another common password question) were designed to get you to reveal the answers to website password recovery questions so that they can access your account without knowing your actual password.
Another quiz scam: Facebook apps. A couple of years ago, Cambridge Analytica got a huge number of Facebook users' personal data by getting them to opt in to a Facebook quiz app without reading the end user licence agreement. Now a security firm is saying that Ukrainian hackers used the same method to get user data very recently.

Emails
Phishing is the practice of sending emails that appear to come from a legitimate business, but which then trick you into going to a phony website and entering personal information. In an especially cruel twist, scammers have been sending phishing emails that appear to be job offers, offers of financial help, and insurance offers.

For instance, a scammer might send an email that looks exactly like a message from LinkedIn, saying that the recipient has a job offer, and prompting them to click a link. The user clicks a link that takes them to a website that looks exactly like LinkedIn.com, but once the recipient enters their username and password to log in to the site, the scammers capture them and gain control of your LinkedIn account and any other accounts that use the same password.

If you get an email that seems to come from a legitimate website, never click the link in the email. Instead, open a new browser tab, and type the web address in the search bar. This allows you to be certain you're going to the correct website; if you do in fact have a message waiting, there will be a notification icon on the website.

Door to door
The Red Cross is tracking reports in which scammers, posing as Red Cross workers, show up at people's door claiming to be selling or giving away home COVID test kits. The scammers may be after cash, credit card numbers, or may even be casing your home with plans to rob it later. But the Red Cross isn't selling test kits door-to-door now and aren't likely to do so in the future.

In the past few weeks, I've seen several people on NextDoor.com posting about an alarm company selling home security systems door-to-door. Some posters are concerned that the salespeople are actually burglars casing homes, but many seem to be from happy customers of the same home security company. I've done a little research and found that there is at least one legitimate company in my area sending its employees door to door selling alarm systems, but that the company has thousands of complaints registered with the Better Business Bureau, and a one-star customer-satisfaction rating. It seems as if their goal may be to get customers locked in to a multi-year contract right away, before they have time to research their options. The scheme isn't illegal, but it certainly is sneaky.

General tips

Many different scams have a few tricks in common. Watch out for the following:

People who will only take payment in the form of wire transfer: scammers prefer this method of payment because it's difficult to trace.
People who want to be paid in gift cards: gift cards are another untraceable payment method. No legitimate business will ever demand payment in gift cards.
On dating sites, potential mates who shower you with affection and then ask for money.
People demanding you "act now": scammers use this technique to stress their potential victims into making choices that they wouldn't if they had time to think about it.

If you do fall victim to any of these scams, first, do not be embarrassed, and don't feel like you've brought this problem on yourself by being too easily duped. Scammers are very, very good at what they do, and even the shrewdest skeptics can fall victim. I certainly have.

If you do fall victim to a scam, you do have options.

If you're tricked into signing up for a service, even if the person you purchased the service from says otherwise, you have have the legal right to cancel within 3 days. If you're denied, you can file a report with the Federal Trade Commision.
If you're tricked by a Social Security scam, you can report it to the Office of the Inspector General.
Other scams can be reported to your state Attorney General.

It's awful that so many people have chosen this time to be horrible to each other, but armed with good information, we can protect ourselves. Stay safe out there.